GOP calls on Obama to ‘renounce’ reconciliation: Live-blogging the health care summit

10:13 a.m. – Obama moves to talking about his own family. Tells story about his daughters getting sick and wondering what would have happened if he didn’t have good health insurance. Tells story of his mom haggling with health insurers over coverage at the end of her life.

He then moves on to how the issue of health care reform is bipartisan.

“I think this concern is bipartisan,” Obama says, and namechecks a number of Republicans, saying he has heard many of them agree that reform is necessary.

Obama cites Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s statement: “The need for reform is not in question.”

“Here’s the bottom line. We all know this is urgent. And unfortunately, over the course of the year … this became a very ideological battle. It became a very partisan battle and politics ended up trumping … practical common sense,” Obama says.

He says, however, there is “overlap” between Democrat and Republican ideas.

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10:09 – You can watch the summit at the Sunlight Foundation page or at whitehouse.gov/live.

Obama has begun his statement talking about letters he receives from every day Americans telling him about their difficult economic circumstances.

“This is an issue that is affecting everybody … not only those without insurance, but it’s affecting those with insurance,” Obama said.

“The problem is not getting better. It’s getting worse.”

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10:08 – Obama has stared his opening statement. Check out the Sunlight Foundation’s webpage which shows financial donations given to each speaker by their largest donors.

10:04 a.m. – All 38 lawmakers stand as Obama enters the room. He goes around the room to shake each hand. He and Sen. John McCain share a quick handshake. Obama and Sen. Tom Coburn eive each other a full embrace. The two are pretty good friends. For real.

10:01 a.m. – President Obama and Vice President Biden just walked out of the White House across the street to Blair House. Obama didn’t look all that happy for a few moments, raising questions about whether he is steamed about Biden’s comments yesterday that this event “could be pure theater.” But Obama, after a few moments, was smiling and joking with Biden.

10 a.m. – The summit today, with 38 Democrats and Republican lawmakers (21 D’s and 17 R’s – list here) is being held in the Garden Room of The Blair House, a suite of four row houses across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. For great background on the Blair House, read this New York Times story from the late 1980′s, when the suite of row houses was renovated and enlarged.

9:50 a.m. – It’s an indication of the expectations for Thursday’s summit that most of the coverage is already looking past it. Politico’s Mike Allen even has what Democrats and Republicans will say after the 6-hour meeting at Blair House in today’s Playbook. The Wall Street Journal has the details of a stripped down plan that Democrats could try to push if a comprehensive bill does not have enough support.

Even Vice President Joe Biden thinks the whole thing is a charade, to use the favored term of House Minority Leader John Boehner, Ohio Republican. Biden told a Delaware newspaper on Wednesday that the summit “could be pure theater.”

“This could end up not being good,” Biden said.