Is Obama All Style and Little Substance?

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill. speaks during a presidential forum on health care coverage, Saturday, March 24, 2007, in Las Vegas. The Forum was sponsored by the Center for American Progress Action Fund and the Service Employees International Union. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken) (Isaac Brekken - AP)

Obama was pressed by a union member in the audience who said she went to his Web site to learn more about his health care vision, but didn't find much beyond his commitment to reduce HIV/AIDS and lead poisoning.

"Keep in mind that our campaign now is I think a little over eight weeks old," Obama said. He promised that a detailed plan would show up in the next couple of months, after he has a chance to talk to more people involved in the system to get their input.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the discussion will begin April 3, when Obama plans to talk to New Hampshire hospital workers and other community members at a meeting co-sponsored by the Portsmouth Herald.

"This is bigger than the Washington insiders _ he wants to take this out across the country," Burton said.

If Obama were running in a different time, he might get more of a break for lacking specifics. Primary votes were already being cast in the 1984 Democratic primary when Walter Mondale famously ridiculed opponent Gary Hart by asking, "Where's the beef?" Four years ago, no candidate for president had a health care plan this early in the game.

"This race is on overdrive," said Democratic communications adviser Stephanie Cutter. "You can't use previous benchmarks for this."

Obama has offered a plan to get troops out of Iraq, beginning with a drawdown in May that would extended through a March 2008 goal of redeploying all combat troops. The plan is unlikely to become reality with Bush in office, but is what Obama says he would do if he were in the Oval Office today.

Obama also has laid out broad goals such as covering the uninsured by the time his first term is over. He has downplayed the importance of the specifics at this stage, saying that it's not a lack of details that are the problem.

"Every four years somebody trots out a white paper, they post it on the Web," Obama said Saturday. "But the question we have to challenge ourselves is do we have the political will and the sense of urgency to actually get it done."

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Associated Press Writer Nedra Pickler covers the Democratic presidential race for The Associated Press. Associated Press writer Ryan Nakashima in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

Obama campaign: http://www.barackobama.net