Balance of Power

Surely, this was the kind of moment administration critics feared when they protested Obama's public school address, charging it could politically indoctrinate impressionable young children.

Obama, however, did not quite take the bait, instead putting the onus on Congress. He said Sean's question was the very one he is asking the House and Senate "because we think we can do it."

The president said he would dwell on the subject tomorrow night during his prime-time address to a joint session of Congress. He then launched into an explanation of how health insurance in the United States has its roots in an employer-based system that on occasion leaves some people - the self-employed, small business owners, among others - falling through the cracks.

He said his goal was to enable people who have health insurance through their jobs to keep it, to give those who don't have coverage an opportunity to get it and to save money over time.

No students appeared to have been harmed in the making of the sound bite. But the president got to rehash a favored talking point and deliver a prod to the legislative branch. Not bad for a morning's work.

-- Adriel Bettelheim