ABC just posted the transcript of its full interview with President Obama set to air tonight on Nightline. The talk is heavy on health care—Obama is a lot more feisty than he was last night in defending its details. At one point, Terry Moran asks Obama about the polls, which show he’s lost some of his momentum on health care. The president blows it off and blames his critics and their “scare tactics.” “What the polls are showing is, is that the more they focus on the political arguments that are out there, as opposed to my plan, the more anxious people get,” Obama tells ABC. “That's not a reflection of us walking through the American people on our plan. That's a reflection of the fact that this debate consistently degenerates into a certain pattern, which is, government takeover of health care and you know, this is going to be radical and, you know, somebody's going to get between you and your doctor.” Moran also asked Obama about his recent meeting with the director of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, who had previously been critical of the health care reform and whether it was appropriate:

MORAN: So you weren't leaning on him?
OBAMA: Terry, we don't lean.
MORAN: You're the president. You can.
OBAMA: My job as president is to get the facts and the facts are on our side in this situation.

Speaking to a town hall in Shaker Heights, Ohio, President Obama just responded to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s announcement that the Senate won’t get to a health care reform bill until the fall. Obama, who said he hadn’t spoken to Reid, said the delay is “okay” as long as people weren’t postponing the vote in hopes of killing the legislation. “That's okay," he said. "My attitude is I want to get it right, but I also want to get it done promptly, and so long as I see folks working diligently and consistently, then I am comfortable with moving a process forward that builds as much consensus as possible.” Still, he added, “We’ve got to get it done, and we’ve got to get it done soon.” He pressed Congress to get him a bill by “the end of the year.” “I want it done by the fall,” he insisted. Here's an excerpt of Obama’s remarks today:

I think Senator Reid said today that he thought that we can get this bill out of the Senate Finance Committee by the time of recess, and that in early fall they will come back and actually vote on the bill. Now, I haven't talked to him today. My attitude is, I want to get it right, but I also want to get it done promptly. And so as long as I see folks working diligently and consistently, then I am comfortable with moving a process forward that builds as much consensus as possible.

With health care reform dominating Capitol Hill this week, you'd beforgiven for not knowing that it is also National Poker Week. Dozens ofdedicated players have descended on the Hill over the past few days toargue for the federal regulation of online poker. The Poker PlayersAlliance contends that poker should not be subject to the stringentregulations applied to other forms of online gambling because theirs isa game of skill and strategy involving complex risk calculations. Mostother forms of gambling, like slot machines, are simple matters ofluck, they claim. While dealing cards introduces an element of chance,poker aficionados say beyond that, it is a game that rewards learningand analysis. They believe that the act of placing a bet is more akinto "making a move" in other games than it is to basic gambling.

In his fourth primetime news conference, President Obama delivered an extended defense of his policies on health care and the economy—two issues where he’s lost significant ground in public opinion in recent weeks. And when we say extended, we literally mean extended. In the hour-long presser, Obama took just 10 questions. That’s a pretty low number even for him, as he took his time responding, if not always answering, each of the queries. During his first six months in office, Obama has become the master of using questions to simply get out his preferred talking points, and Wednesday was no exception. From the top of the news conference, Obama’s assignment was to explain this increasingly complicated push for reform and sell the American people on why it’s so necessary to do something now. “I realize that with all the charges and criticisms being thrown around in Washington, many Americans may be wondering, ‘What's in this for me?’” Obama said in his opening statement. “How does my family stand to benefit? …Tonight, I want to answer those questions.” Some of Obama’s responses were so long and so technical, it’s hard to judge if he actually accomplished that goal. Here’s a few more things that struck your Gaggler:

Professor Obama returns. Your Gaggler wondered all week if we’d see him at the presser, and we sure did, beginning with Obama’s initial statement where he cited data and figures to back up his argument that the nation can’t afford to wait on health reform. The difference between this Professor Obama and the one we saw emerge during stimulus talks: Passion. At his newser a month ago, Obama seemed to be aching for a fight as he went before reporters in the White House press briefing room. He was snippy and challenged reporters on their questions on health care. Last night, Obama was cautious and careful to stay on message. There wasn't much fight behind the message. He often seemed to ignore questions completely, only to use the time to communicate the points he needed to make. Take the first question of the night from the Associated Press’s Ben Feller, who asked Obama if he’s signaled to House and Senate leaders on policies he wants and which ones he doesn’t and how he thinks the bill should be paid for. Both were questions that Democrats have been increasingly calling on Obama to answer, but he didn’t tonight. “Before we talk about how to pay for it, let’s talk about what exactly needs to be done,” he said. For more than eight minutes, Obama rambled on the need for health reform, how costs will rise if we don’t tackle the problem now. By our clock, he went on for almost nine minutes but it was nothing we hadn’t heard before.