President Obama seemed to have one goal tonight: change the framing of the debate on the hill. He spoke of fractions--one-third of the cost, two thirds of the cost--instead of absolute numbers, which rise into the hundreds of billions. He spoke, as he has in days past, of "health insurance reform" instead of "health care reform." And, most crucially, he spoke of the status quo as an 'alternative plan' that will double health care costs over 10 years.

That interpretation was perhaps cribbed from the Washington Post's Stephen Pearlstein, whom Obama cited in his interview with Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt. But it's a critical point--both politically and substantively--when critics of reform insist that the Democratic plans are too expensive.