President Barack Obama appealed to Americans on Saturday to back his ambitious revamp of the U.S. health care system, seeking to regain momentum amid growing worries among lawmakers over how to pay for it.

Trading on his personal popularity, Obama has gone on the offensive to try to persuade doubters and face down critics of his more than $1 trillion plan to set up a government-run health insurance plan to compete with private insurers.

The Democratic president used his weekly radio address to again call upon lawmakers, including skeptics within his own party, to "seize this opportunity -- one we might not have again for generations -- and finally pass health insurance reform this year, in 2009."

Obama sought to frame the debate in terms of the country's very economic survival, saying the issue affected "the stability of our entire economy."

Reforming the United States' $2.5 trillion health care industry is Obama's signature domestic issue, but he is running out of time to get the enabling legislation passed this year. A delay to 2010, a congressional election year, could make it harder to win a final deal.

This week, the legislation advanced in key committees in Congress, but Obama was dealt a blow when the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said his plans would not contain the spiraling costs of government health programs.

The administration quickly rejected this, saying the CBO had failed to take into account the savings that would be achieved through separate legislation.

But the CBO's comments were seized upon by Republicans and fiscally conservative Democrats concerned at the price tag for the overhaul as the country battles through its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression in the 1930s.

'SOME BIG PLOT'

Republicans charge the massive new spending and "job-killing taxes" in Obama's plan threatens the country's economic recovery.

"With a shaky economy and the need for new jobs, the last thing the president and the Congress should do is impose new taxes on America's small businesses," Senate Republican whip John Kyl said in the party's weekly radio address.

"New taxes on small business would cripple job creation, especially jobs for low-wage earners. It would empower Washington, not doctors and patients, to make health care decisions and would impose a new tax on working families during a recession," Kyl said.

Obama said this was not true. "I want to be very clear: I will not sign on to any health plan that adds to our deficits over the next decade."

He said opponents of healthcare reform "warn that this is all some big plot for socialized medicine, or government-run health care with long lines and rationed care. That's not true either."

"I don't believe that government can or should run health care. But I also don't think insurance companies should have free rein to do as they please," he said.

Seeking to control the healthcare debate and get his message across to the American people, Obama plans to hold a White House news conference next week. He also plans to travel to Cleveland on Thursday to spotlight healthcare reform.

When President Barack Obama unveiled a $12 billion plan to help community colleges prepare millions of people for a new generation of jobs earlier this week, it recognized the growing role of community colleges across the nation, state and local officials said.

Obama announced the initiative on Tuesday in a state reeling from the loss of auto jobs. Michigan’s unemployment rate is 14.1 percent, the nation’s worst.

“The hard truth is that some of the jobs that have been lost in the auto industry and elsewhere won’t be coming back,” Obama told a crowd at Macomb Community College in Warren, Mich. “They are the casualties of a changing economy.”

To that end, he proposed an “American Graduation Initiative” to bolster the two-year community college field that serves millions of students as a launching point for careers or a step toward expanded higher education. The idea is to train people for jobs, such as those expected in the clean energy industry, when the economy turns around and begins to create jobs again instead of shedding them.

Under the plan, competitive grants would be offered to schools to try new programs or expand training and counseling.

High dropout rates would be addressed by designing programs to track students and help them earn an associate’s degree or finish their education at a four-year institution. Money would also be spent to renovate and rebuild facilities, and online courses would be developed to help colleges offer more classes.

The White House says the cost would be $12 billion over 10 years; Obama says it would be paid for by ending wasteful subsidies to banks and private lenders of student loans.

“Time and again, when we have placed our bet for the future on education, we have prospered as a result,” Obama said.

Louisiana Delta Community College Chancellor Luke Robins said Obama’s announcement was a realization of the importance of community colleges.

“It’s a very positive response and it will be interesting to see how the Congress moves forward with it,” Robins said.

“I don’t see it as a long-term fix for declining state funding for higher ed. What it gives the LCTCS (Louisiana Community and Technical College System) is some seed money to start programs aimed at improving graduation and retention rates. We’re a developing system, and those kinds of programs take some money to get off the ground.”

LCTCS President Joe May is also pleased with Obama’s proposal.

“President Obama’s announcement really speaks to an understanding of the critical role of community and technical colleges in providing solutions toward developing a competitive workforce for our country and specifically the State of Louisiana,” May said.

“This tremendous investment in the areas of facilities, online courses, and program development and expansion can greatly assist our colleges in facilitating economic recovery for our state and increasing the skills level attainment of our local citizenry. Therefore, this announcement couldn’t be more timely as we continue to focus on transforming Louisiana’s work force and developing the high demand, industry-sensitive training needed for jobs of the 21st century.”

Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, a former education secretary, said Obama’s plan is a “typical proposal” that sounds better than it is. “When our biggest problem as a country is too much debt, he’s taking the entitlement spending he claims to be saving from the student loan program and adding it to the debt,” Alexander said.

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Saying that civil rights leaders from decades past paved the way for his election as the nation's first black commander in chief, President Barack Obama paid homage to the NAACP and advised members that their work remains unfinished.

Obama traced his historic rise to power to the vigor and valor of black civil rights leaders, telling the nation's oldest civil rights organization Thursday night that their sacrifice "began the journey that has led me here." He also prodded them to look beyond simply African-American rights as the group celebrated its 100th convention.

"Make no mistake: The pain of discrimination is still felt in America," the president told the friendly audience that erupted in standing applause and the occasional "Amen" during his remarks.

Rousing his audience, Obama offered his most direct speech on race since winning the White House, a mix of personal reflection and policy promotion. He had worked on the address for about two weeks and revised it until shortly before he spoke, his aides said, underscoring the importance of his message and his audience.

Implicit in his appearance was that he is seeking the backing of the powerful NAACP and its members for his ambitious domestic agenda. He also is careful not to forget a groundswell of black voters who reshaped the electoral map, although they didn't singularly deliver him to the White House.

Painting himself as the beneficiary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's work, Obama cited historical figures from W.E.B. DuBois to Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King Jr. to Emmet Till to explain how the path to the presidency was cleared by visionaries.

Despite the racial progress exemplified by his own election, Obama said African-Americans must overcome a disproportionate share of struggles, including being more likely to suffer from many diseases and having a higher proportion of children end up in jail.

"They're very different from the barriers faced by earlier generations. They're very different from the ones faced when fire hoses and dogs were being turned on young marchers," Obama said. "But what's required to overcome today's barriers is the same as what was needed then. The same commitment. The same sense of urgency."

Obama expanded his message of equal rights beyond the black communities. He said many Americans still face discrimination and suggested the NAACP — looking to declare a mission for its second century — might embrace a broader mandate in coming years.

Obama's remarks, steeped in his personal biography as the son of a white mother from Kansas and black father from Kenya, challenged the audience — those in the room and those beyond — to take greater responsibility for their own future.

He urged parents to take a more active role, residents to pay better attention to their schools and students to aspire beyond basketball stars and rappers.

"I want them aspiring to be scientists and engineers, doctors and teachers, not just ballers and rappers," Obama said. "I want them aspiring to be a Supreme Court justice. I want them aspiring to be president of the United States."

With that line, Obama drove the hotel ballroom audience to its feet.

Throughout his comments, Obama sought a balance, contending that the government must foster equality but individuals must take charge of their own lives. It was reminiscent of earlier Obama speeches, calling on fathers to help their children and adopting a tone that at times seemed drawn from the pulpit.

"We have to say to our children, `Yes, if you're African-American, the odds of growing up amid crime and gangs are higher. Yes, if you live in a poor neighborhood, you will face challenges that somebody in a wealthy suburb does not have to face," Obama said, returning to his tough-love message familiar from his two-year presidential campaign.

"But that's not a reason to get bad grades, that's not a reason to cut class, that's not a reason to give up on your education and drop out of school. No one has written your destiny for you. Your destiny is in your hands."

Today, Obama said, it is not prejudice or discrimination that presents the greatest obstacles for blacks, but rather structural inequities_ in areas such as education and health care. Still, he said discrimination persists — and not just for blacks — and chided those who may contend otherwise.

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U.S. President Barack Obama has called the Senate health committee’s decision to approve a healthcare reform bill “a major milestone” and has urged Congress to pass a bill by the beginning of August, when Congress goes on recess.

Obama has been pushing for a healthcare bill that will expand coverage to all Americans yet that push has been met with resistance by several Republicans who have pointed to the cost involved in such a measure. Despite his detractors, Obama has continued to lobby for reform and has consistently called healthcare a necessity that had to be achieved.

Wednesday’s vote reflected the divisive nature of the healthcare reforms as the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted 13-10 to pass a to pass a $600-billion version of the bill with all ten detractors being Republican.

Under the HELP proposal healthcare would be expanded to all Americans by requiring individuals to be insured and providing assistance to those unable to pay for their coverage. The approval was the first passed by a congressional committee with several other committees working on their own version of a healthcare reform bill.

Obama the various bills will be debated and a combined bill will reach Congress with both House and Senate voting on the unified bill.

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President Barack Obama began his speech in Accra by saying: “We will begin from the premise that Africa’s future is up to Africans.” Instead of upholding this promise, he proceeded to give a lecture (not a speech). The lecture itself was a rehearsal of previous lectures Africans have been accustomed to from Western leaders and governments – about democracy, accountability, stability, war and growth.

The only difference Obama brought to the table was to be more explicit and candid about Africa’s ills. Other Western leaders are often diplomatic and very polite when talking about Africa’s failures. This is largely because being white makes them run the risk of being misunderstood. For example, they can be accused of racism if they speak frankly about Africa’s endemic tribalism and corruption.

Yet the enthusiasm with which many Africans received the speech was actually not a sign of hope but surrender. Many Africans, especially those who were celebrating over it, were also demonstrating the sense of powerlessness they feel rather than renewed energy to challenge the continent’s entrenched rulers. It was as if Africans finally had found someone who could speak to their rulers about the continent’s malaise. Africans have been waiting for a saviour from without to liberate them from their own rulers. To me this attitude is the biggest threat to the continent.

For all that Obama said, he seemed to radically misunderstand the source of Africa’s crisis. He thinks that Africa has failed because its leaders – either out of stupidity or bad judgement – made wrong choices. In focusing largely on the personality of individual presidents, Obama misses the incentives that make Africa’s rulers make choices that harm/hurt their citizens. From this wrong premise, Obama proceeds, thinking that Africa’s rulers can change their ways through moral exhortations.

Obama needs to study Africa more intimately before he can lecture about it. I personally think Africa’s rulers make the choices they make based on the structure of incentives they face. For example, many African countries pursued growth destroying policies in the 1960s and 70s because powerful interests within the state profited from them and therefore formed strong public sector constituencies against reform.

Today, with the exception of Rwanda, most African countries have extremely dysfunctional healthcare and education systems. On the face of it, these failures seem a product of poor policies, insufficient funds, administrative weaknesses and limited human resources. Yet the institutionalised corruption and incompetence in these sectors creates profitable opportunities, both politically and economically, to incumbents in the state.

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