WASHINGTON — President Obama’s speech on health care failed to bridge the gulf with Republicans, but Democrats said on Thursday that the president had largely succeeded in unifying his own party by making a cogent, persuasive pitch to the American public and by casting his plan to overhaul the health care system as a political and moral imperative.
The day after the nationally televised address, in which Mr. Obama signaled that he could accept an alternative to a government-run insurance plan, influential Democrats who previously seemed wedded to the public insurance option hinted that they, too, might be flexible. They included the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and Representative Henry A. Waxman, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, both from California, and who both, like Mr. Obama, say they still prefer the public option, and view it as crucial to passing a bill in the House.
Democrats sought to use momentum from the speech to reshape the national political debate after more than a month of playing defense. Mr. Obama wasted no time in pursuing the support of lawmakers who seem to be on the fence by inviting 17 Senate Democrats, mostly centrists, to meet with him at the White House on Thursday, a session that participants described as overwhelmingly positive.
And the White House said the president would continue to press the health care issue around the country, including at a rally on Saturday in Minnesota and an interview on “60 Minutes” to be broadcast Sunday.
In the Senate, in particular, the architects of a bipartisan health care proposal said Mr. Obama’s speech had given them a lift by endorsing much of what they have proposed, especially a plan to pay a chunk of the bill’s cost with new fees on high-end health insurance plans. Both Democrats and Republicans believe such a tax can help lower long-term health care spending.
“The president’s speech breathed new life into what we are doing,” said Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana and chairman of the Finance Committee, who is leading the bipartisan negotiations. “The president is talking about what we are talking about. That is very helpful. We’re very close to being in sync here.”
The group of six Senate Finance Committee negotiators, three Democrats and three Republicans, met again on Thursday to try to resolve differences. Large obstacles remain, including disagreements over a proposed expansion of Medicaid.
Some of Mr. Obama’s remarks left liberals disappointed, like his willingness to bend on the idea of creating a government-run health plan to compete with private insurers, which has broad support in the House.
Senators who attended the meeting at the White House said the main topic of discussion was controlling the overall cost of the health care plan. Several said they were optimistic that they could eventually support the bill.
“The president’s speech was very good,” said Senator Evan Bayh, Democrat of Indiana. “Our challenge is to produce a bill as good as the speech.”
Democratic leaders acknowledged that Mr. Obama’s speech had probably not shifted any opposition vote from no to yes on the legislation. And while the president tried to extend an olive branch to Republicans by offering to take steps to rein in medical malpractice lawsuits, some Republicans dismissed it as an insincere nod to something they regard as a priority.
Republicans who had reveled in watching Democrats under siege at town-hall-style meetings during the summer recess found themselves on the defensive on Thursday, trying to refute Mr. Obama’s assertions that many of them had promoted false attacks and were unwilling to work toward a compromise that would benefit Americans.
Some Republicans were furious.
“I thought the speech was partisan, uninformative, disingenuous and not likely to encourage those who have honest disagreements with him to be able to work towards some kind of common solution,” Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the No. 2 Republican, said.
Senator Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican who has indicated he would like to work with Democrats on health care, said: “The point of the speech was to unify the president’s Democratic base, not to advance policy. We heard a lot of pontifications and platitudes.”
Even some Democrats said there was still a lot of heavy lifting to do before the legislation had enough votes to pass.
“I don’t think he solved a thing in terms of votes,” Representative Charles B. Rangel, Democrat of New York, said of Mr. Obama’s speech. “I think he did a lot in changing the atmosphere.”
Mr. Rangel, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and a lead author of the House legislation, predicted that the speech would have “a great effect, taking away that mean-spiritedness, that depth of tension, that negativism” that boiled over in August.
He said that he had no immediate plans to adopt Mr. Obama’s proposal for a fee or tax on insurance companies that sell the most expensive health insurance policies, but that he would not ignore the idea if it might help build a majority.
Other Democrats were exuberant.
“The president’s speech was really a game-changer,” the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said. “Everything he talked about will be legislation that preserves patients’ choice, lowers costs, improves the quality of care. That’s really what this whole debate is all about.”
Other Democrats said Mr. Obama had shifted the discourse in a way that could generate greater support from centrist lawmakers in both parties.
“He was talking to the American people, particularly to independents,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York. “I don’t think anyone thought after hearing the speech 12 Republican senators would get up and say, ‘I’m for you, Mr. President.’ But when they go back to their constituencies who did hear the speech, they may feel differently in terms of how to approach this.”