Obama Gets Personal, Cites Grandmother's Death

Now it's personal. President Barack Obama invoked his own anguish over the death of his grandmother as he challenged the notion that Democratic efforts to overhaul the nation's health care would include so-called death panels. "I just lost my grandmother last year. I know what it's like to watch somebody you love, who's aging, deteriorate and have to struggle with that," he told the crowd in Colorado.

He took issue with "the notion that somehow I ran for public office or members of Congress are in this so they can go around pulling the plug on grandma." When critics "start making arguments like that, that's simply dishonest—especially when I hear the arguments coming from members of Congress in the other party who, turns out, sponsored similar provisions," Obama said. (More President Obama stories.)