Republicans and the Health Care Summit--Too Partisan or am I too Liberal?

The Health Care Summit approaches and in the light of The Struggle for Democracy by Greenberg and Page, chapter 9, and as a liberal, I am wondering about the Republicans' strategy for the summit. Greenberg and Page continually emphasize in chapter 9 how the parties have become more ideologically based and partisan; bipartisanship almost seems like a thing of the past. However, especially with health care reform, crossing the aisle needs to happen. If cooperation and compromise do not happen and each side simply seeks to outmaneuver the other, health care reform will fail yet again.

As of now, the GOP delegation for the summit could have as many as 19 House and Senate officials. The GOP definitely seems to have a partisan non-cooperative strategy going into the summit, according to The Washington Post: "Senior Republican aides said the delegation would seek to portray the Obama health-care bill as a further threat to the record deficit and target specific parts of the Democratic proposal, including tax increases and Medicare cuts. Republicans also will be prepared to argue that Congress should be focused on the more urgent need for job creation rather than health-care reform." Basically, the Republicans will attack the current House and Senate bills with a proposal to change current insurance rules (many proposed by George W. Bush) and try to refocus the public's attention on jobs and the economy.

It seems like the Republicans are treating this summit like grounds for a potential ambush in a stereotypical Western movie or maybe that's my liberal bias getting the best of me. I would genuinely like to think that this summit could work and get health care reform back on track. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) sums up my hopes for the health care summit this Thursday: "We've heard that they [the Republicans] have ideas, and we look forward to hearing those ideas . . . The president did this because he wants to be able to reach out to the Republicans. That's who he is—he is not a partisan president. And I look forward to the meeting."

Sources:
Republicans plan to stress private-sector alternatives to the president's plan
Why Partisan Bickering Works
Whose Side Are You On?

Reid to Republicans: "Stop crying over reconciliation"