From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Health care reform is the president doing it right, or not?

Hello again, I'm Aran Alney, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International.

The daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

Conventional wisdom has it that health care reforms in big trouble,

especially with conservative blue dog Democrats worried about next year's elections.

But wait, big pharma is on board and the American Medical Association after 60 years of denouncing government plans as socialized medicine.

Are White House tactics paying off after all? What did those special interests get for their

support? What did they give up? Will it all add up to cost control? We'll talk to the doctors

and others. On reporter's notebook later on, three arrests in what might or might not be

a sensational terrorist plot. First, the news. Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of

KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio International Program Fund, whose contributors

include the Ford Foundation,

the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,

dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy, productive life.

Information at Gates Foundation.org.

Hello again, Mormon. I'll be back with To the Point. Recent reports say health care reform is in trouble, but the American Medical Association has done it about face. After decades of opposition, why is Washington's most potent lobby running TV ads that favor a government overhaul? Can the doctors get the public on board?

On a reporter's notebook, more questions than answers in the latest stories about a

possible terrorist plot in the U.S. linked to al-Qaeda. First, this news update, success is

still achievable in Afghanistan, but without more troops in the next year, the eight-year

conflict will likely result in failure. That's according to what's called an urgent

confidential assessment by the top U.S. and NATO commander, General Stanley McChrystal. That's according to what's called an urgent confidential assessment by the top

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