Clearly, House Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio wasn’t looking forward to his weekly press conference today. Why would he, since he knew all of the questions were going to be about one of his caucus members heckling the president’s speech like one of those Little League parents who abuses the coach?

So Boehner did what any congressional leader does in that position: He faced the music, clung to his talking points, and never admitted he was embarrassed. Even though he certainly looked embarrassed.

After a lengthy delay caused by some drawn-out House votes, Boehner walked into the press conference and cited his litany of policy objections to President Obama’s health care speech last night. If it had been any other week, the reporters might have asked him some policy questions. But not the day after Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., disrupted Obama’s speech, shouting “You lie!” when Obama claimed the health care bill wouldn’t extend coverage to illegal immigrants.

President Obama intends to address schoolchildren across the nation next week about the importance of taking responsibility for success in their studies. But in these polarized times, the first-ever talk has quickly prompted accusations that the White House is using taxpayer money to politically indoctrinate children.

Obama will travel to Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va. on Sept. 8 and deliver an address that will be aired on C-Span and the White House web site, whitehouse.gov. The White House says the message is intended to stimulate a discussion about persisting and succeeding in school. In a recent letter to school principals, Education Secretary Arne Duncan provided more details, stating, "The president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning. He will also call for a shared responsibility and commitment on the part of students, parents and educators to ensure that every child in every school receives the best education possible so they can compete in the global economy for good jobs and live rewarding and productive lives as American citizens."

Sounds pretty innocuous. But the Education Department's decision to distribute lesson plans to accompany the address and essentially require students to watch the speech is sparking an outcry from commentators and officials on the political right, who accuse the president of staging a political rally disguised as a civics lesson.

This is how weird the health care debate is getting: It’s now possible to hear Lamar Alexander talking about “revolution.”

Not singing it, but at this rate, that could be next.

On a conference call with reporters this afternoon, Alexander, the mild-mannered Senate Republican Conference chairman from Tennessee, warned Democrats that the nation would not sit still if they try to pass their health care bill through the reconciliation process, which would allow them to bypass a filibuster and approve the overhaul without any Republican support. If one party tried to rewrite the health care system on its own, Alexander said, “there would be a minor revolution in this country.”

Absence clearly isn't making hearts grow fonder in the health care debate.

The Obama administration on Monday showed its irritation with remarks Wyoming Republican Sen. Michael B. Enzi made as part of the weekly GOP address on Sunday -- particularly lines about how Democratic proposals in Congress would restrict medical choices and make the nation's "finances sicker without saving you money." Enzi, you'll recall, is part of the "Gang of Six" Senate Finance Committee members who've been meeting for months to craft a bipartisan health plan.

President Obama during recent town hall meetings singled out Enzi as one of a handful of Republicans who's still working constructively to achieve results. But Enzi on Sunday said town hall meetings he's held with constituents revealed widespread anxiety over Obama's efforts to reshape the U.S. health system.

If the Democrats decide to use budget reconciliation rules to try to pass the health care overhaul — a strategy that would allow them to push through the most contentious changes with a simple majority, rather than 60 votes — expect to hear Sen. John McCain of Arizona draw a lot of comparisons to the fight he helped lead four years ago to preserve judicial filibusters.

In 2005, McCain was the Republican co-chair of the “Gang of 14,” a bipartisan group of senators who blocked a Republican plan to stop Democrats from filibustering President George W. Bush’s judicial nominees. The group vowed to vote against any procedural ruling that banned future judicial filibusters, arguing that the ability of the minority party to block objectionable things — even judicial nominations — was crucial to the traditions of the Senate.

Last night, McCain told Sean Hannity that the 60-vote principle was so important to the Senate that he’ll fight the Democratic reconciliation strategy on health care on those grounds — just as he fought the Republican leadership’s plans to end judicial filibusters.

The message has been sent: President Obama is deliberately not ruling out a Democrats-only strategy to break the deadlock on health care.

At an online “strategy session” this afternoon sponsored by Organizing for America — formerly the grass-roots mobilization arm of his presidential campaign — Obama promised to move ahead on a health care overhaul “one way or another,” regardless of whether the Senate Finance Committee can reach an agreement that can win the support of three Senate Republicans.

Responding to a question about whether the bipartisan talks are doing any good, Obama said he wants “a good product that includes some Republican ideas.” But, he added, “I have no control over what the other side decides is its political strategy. My commitment to the American people is, we’re going to get this done one way or another.”

Liberal Democrats and progressive groups have been increasingly frustrated at how far the Obama administration, and particularly Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus of Montana, have been going to win Republican support — especially if the effort means getting rid of a proposed government-run health plan to compete with private insurers. They’ve noted that even Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, one of the three Republicans Baucus has been negotiating with, has said he might not support a deal if it can’t get substantial GOP support — a remark that has convinced them the Republicans aren’t negotiating in good faith.

President Obama moved his previously scheduled remarks on the economy from a gym at Fort Myer, Va. to the Rose Garden on Friday after the Labor Department reported that unemployment fell in July for the first time since April 2008, to 9.4 percent, in another sign the recession might be easing.

Sunshine, singing birds and colorful flowers surely evoke better times ahead, and helped put an exclamation point on a jobs report that exceeded the expectations of most economists and even the White House.

Obama took a victory lap of sorts, crediting the economic stimulus package (PL 111-5) and other Democratic initiatives for bringing the nation back from the brink. And he again plugged overhauling the health system, creating green jobs and bolstering education as necessary for building a sustained recovery.

"We have a lot further to go. As far as I am concerned we will not have a true recovery as long as we are losing jobs," Obama said. The president went on to rhapsodize about Americans he's met who are facing adversity but managing to keep their faith in the country and the future.

Such lofty talk doesn't mean Obama is finished playing the blame game, however.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele had some explaining to do this afternoon, after loud and nasty protests by conservative activists have disrupted Democratic town hall meetings around the country and given the GOP’s supporters a bad image.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise that most of the questions on Steele’s conference call with reporters were about the protests — especially on a day when the Democratic National Committee compiled some of the ugliest incidents into a Web ad charging that Republicans have “called out the mob.” But Steele couldn’t decide whether to disown the protesters or embrace them. So he did a little of both.

“We are not inciting anybody to go out and disrupt anything,” Steele said. But “as citizens, they have a right to express their point of view.”

President Obama plans to huddle with his Cabinet and top advisers on Friday and Saturday to review lessons learned from his first six months in office. There's bound to be some gnashing of teeth over the pace of the health care overhaul, and also some satisfaction over signs the economy is staggering back.

But based on his remarks at Wednesday's town halls in Raleigh, N.C. and Bristol, Va., don't expect a major recalibration of the administration's message.

Obama continued to strenuously defend economic relief efforts launched in the aftermath of last fall's financial crisis and lay some blame at the feet of former President George W. Bush. And he eagerly portrayed himself as a responsible steward of taxpayers' money, to deflect persistent Republican charges that he's incapable of controlling federal spending.

When the same political party controls both the White House and Congress, oversight of the executive seems suddenly to vanish from the list of urgent congressional priorities. And that usualy increases pressure on Congress’ minority party to be more innovative in the way it pushes for oversight.

So lately, House Republicans have been making more use of what’s known as a “resolution of inquiry,” a way for the minority party to try to pry information out of the White House. Just today, in fact, the Financial Services committee approved one such request. That might look surprising coming from a Democratic House. But when you dig a little deeper into how these resolutions actually work, you realize that’s probably as far as it will go.

The resolution was sponsored by House Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio, and it asks for various documents about the federal government’s aid to General Motors and Chrysler, the workings of President Obama’s auto task force, and the dealership closures both companies have announced. The closures have angered House members from both parties, but Boehner has a special stake in the issue, since GM closed a dealership in his district.