On Feb. 1, President Obama invited a group of arch rivals to the White House for a fierce fight. But alliances that day ran much deeper than the partisan lines that divide Congress and the country. Obama was hosting a bipartisan Super Bowl bash.

Fast forward a month, and it looks like keeping the peace at the biggest sports showdown of the year was just child's play -- a warm-up in deal brokering for the new president. Soon after, Republicans decided to stick it to his "kumbaya," let's-all-get-along approach to reaching consensus on his stimulus plan. Now, Obama's ready for round two, bringing together foes from all fields to duke it out over how to solve another pressing policy predicament: health care. 

From universal, government-sponsored coverage to single-payer proponents, all sides of the debate are being represented at the White House today for Obama's health care summit. But no one is expecting any big breakthroughs, as Press Secretary Robert Gibbs conceded earlier this week. The summit is the type of meeting where everyone already knows what everyone else is going to say. Just follow the script and smile, taking turns to put your two cents on the table.... 

In his remarks this morning, Obama continued to frame health care reform as an economic and moral imperative. (Watch the video of Obama's remarks here.) Pols and pundits of all stripes agree that something needs to be done about the country's crippled health care system, As Obama put it this morning, "there is no debate about whether all Americans should have quality, affordable health care. The only question is, how?"

Honing in on that "how" is at the heart of Obama's efforts today. But if and when something that even slightly resembles a consensus is reached, passing significant health care reform is going to be a huge up-hill battle. 

Every big issue evokes ideological differences. But with health care, the stakeholders have a particularly paralyzing effect on policymakers. For one, there is an especially diverse and wide range of groups involved. Doctors, insurers, employers big and small, patients, labor, pharmaceutical giants -- these players aren't just vocal about their viewpoints, they've got power. If too many cooks spoil the broth, then whatever "solution" is presented in the end won't be worth one slurp. 

This is the catch-22 of the health care conundrum for the Obama administration. On one hand, by inviting everyone to the table, there is a risk of ending up with a "broken pottery" policy, as Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah) pointed out this morning. As for crafting a solution to such a complex issue behind closed doors, well, we saw how well that worked out when then First Lady Hillary Clinton set out on her heath care crusade in the early 90s. On the other hand, by holding a summit so early in the game, Obama is trying to make the best of a sticky situation. He's offering to hear all sides, reflecting his promise of bipartisanship and more transparent governing, without promising any one group that their preferred policy will get a place in the final plan. 

Despite the difference -- both in ideology and interests-- of conference attendees, this is a situation where one can expect the opposing sides to act in a congenial manner (especially with CSPAN's watchful eye recording the breakout sessions this afternoon). The nitty gritty of actually hammering out some sort of policy -- and getting it passed -- won't be nearly as mild. And that job has been tasked to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who happens to be off in Topeka as the Beltway brain trust spars over solutions. But with Obama having set up the ambitious deadline of trying to get something in place by year's end, we can expect the battle to heat up fast.