Valley officials weigh in on Obama speech

day after President Obama blended compromise and combativeness in a speech to Congress pushing health care legislation, reactions from Southern Californians prominent in the debate were just as mixed. Kevin Modesti in the Daily News.

Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, dismissed the nationally televised address as "more of the same with maybe a new wrapper on it," and was displeased that Obama scolded Republicans for what the president said were lies about his specific proposals.

"It was like we were being taken to the woodshed for doing what we thought was our constitutional responsibility," McKeon said in a phone interview Thursday. "We've read the bill, and we've tried to explain it to the American people, and the American people have told us they