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The common wisdom in Washington after the health care bill debacle is that the bill - and its Democratic supporters - are doomed.

The famous "sausage making" that passed for the American legislative process was a huge turn-off - and resulted not in a health care reform, but a belly flop.

Democrats are panicked, Republicans are measuring the curtains on their Majority Congressional offices - and the people are still wondering if the Government can take care of any of the major issues facing our country.

So it's quite surprising that President Barack Obama is still advocating for the passage of health care reform.

Seemingly undaunted - or perhaps cognizant of the fact that not passing health care reform is the true electoral danger for the 2010 elections - the President continues to push.

In the latest attempt to move the debate forward, the President is inviting the Republican opposition to the White House for a televised conversation on the best health care solutions.

Reuters reports:

Obama's effort to expand health coverage hit a stalemate after Democrats lost their 60-seat "supermajority" in the Senate as a result of a Massachusetts special election in January. They are now trying to decide on a new course.

Obama insisted in an interview with CBS News that he was not backing down on his push to revamp the healthcare system and said it was crucial for the economy to rein in health costs longer term.

He said the aim of the half-day February 25 meeting, which will be televised live, will be "to go through systematically all the best ideas that are out there" and try to move forward on the legislation.

Obama said he wanted to ask Republicans specific questions about how they would propose to lower costs, extend coverage to the uninsured and revise insurance rules so that people with existing medical conditions would be able to get coverage.

Here the President explains his health care strategy and much more to Katie Couric:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

The Washington Post reports:

...[The offer for a meeting to Republicans]... also comes just weeks after the president received high marks for engaging the House Republicans in a televised, 90-minute discussion at their retreat in Baltimore. The president has been hammered by critics who said his year-long push to revamp the health care system did not live up to his campaign promise to conduct the debate in the open.

Democratic efforts to push a final health bill through the Congress fell apart last month when the party lost their 60-seat, filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. The newly-elected Republican senator from Massachusetts, Scott Brown, campaigned against what he called the Democratic party's government takeover of the health-care system.

The president's proposed half-day summit, which aides said could take place at the historic Blair House across the street from the White House, represents an effort by Obama to hit the reset button on the top domestic priority of his first year in office.

And it is a recognition that he must now have at least some Republican support to get it passed.

In a statement, House Republican leader John Boehner said that he is looking forward to the discussion and is "pleased that the White House finally seems interested in a real, bipartisan conversation on health care. The American people have overwhelmingly rejected both of the job-killing trillion-dollar government takeover of health care bills passed by the House and Senate. The problem with the Democrats' health care bills is not that the American people don't understand them; the American people do understand them, and they don't like them."

Boehner added that "The best way to start on real, bipartisan reform would be to scrap those bills and focus on the kind of step-by-step improvements that will lower health care costs and expand access."

But aides said that Obama does not plan to scrap months of legislative effort on the issue. Democratic leaders have continued to work quietly to reconcile House and Senate versions that passed last year, and the president plans to come to the summit armed with a Democratic bill, aides said.

"This is not starting over," one White House official said. "Don't make any mistake about that. We are coming with our plan. They can bring their plan."

The official added: "What the President will not do is let this moment slip away. He hopes to have Republican support in doing so - but he is going to move forward on health reform."