Deadlines have come and gone relative to congressional approval of a national health care plan. Various reasons have been offered as to why the Democratic-controlled Congress has been unable to get sufficient votes to deliver a plan to the president for his signature.

It is doubtful any previous president has made as many speeches, traveled so often and so far to tell his story, used so many questionable tactics to try to win support for a specific piece of legislation or spent and committed as many millions, billions or even trillions of dollars to try to get approval of a plan he wants to sign.

And yet, according to numerous public opinion polls, a large majority of Americans are opposed to the current plan being put together secretly behind closed doors.

A week or so ago, a new “deadline” was announced: next Thursday, March 18. However, since that announcement, there has been some wavering, and now senior Democrats are suggesting that maybe March 18 isn’t a firm deadline.

The idea behind the March 18 date was that Democratic leaders wanted to get approval before legislators left town for a two-week Easter recess when they would get back to their home districts and hear the growing opposition to what Obama is pushing.

White House sources announced Friday that Obama is putting off a long-planned trip to Asia to remain in Washington to continue his arm-twisting to secure sufficient votes from fellow Democrats to pass the bill. (Consider the massive changes this triggers in all the countries Obama had planned to visit.)

Various parliamentary maneuvers, some of which some say are unfair, if not unconstitutional, are being considered to try to win congressional approval by one means or another. Every day, Democratic, GOP and news analysts come up with various vote tallies, all of which forecast a narrow vote.

Considering the almost-unmatched efforts that Obama and his congressional leaders have used trying to get a favorable vote, it is telling that a majority of Americans do not favor the Obama plan. Asked if the country is headed in the right direction, 70 percent of those questioned said “no.”

Poll after poll has shown the public does not want the Obama plan. They want improvements in the nation’s current health delivery system and runaway costs, but they don’t like what the president is trying to force down the throats of Americans.

They don’t like the secrecy. Few legislators know what is in the more-than-2,000-page bill. Changes and additions continue to be made to the proposed legislation — all behind closed doors. There is no bipartisan effort as Republicans have been locked out of the deliberations.

Members of Congress are being bribed to vote for the president’s plan. They are being threatened with actions that will be taken against them if they do not support the president.

The cost of the proposed plan is huge. People start paying for the plan almost immediately but have to wait three years for the plan to kick into action. The national debt is out of control.

And the country is becoming even more divided, with greater and greater dislike and distrust of Congress.

The shame or disgrace of the entire matter is that members of Congress and the vast majority of Americans do not know what is in the proposed legislation. They do not know firm numbers or firm definitions or what will or will not be in the bill.

Earlier this week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said members of Congress and the public would have to pass the bill “so we can find out what’s in it.” What an admission.

How can any House or Senate member vote on a bill he or she really doesn’t know about, and how can the public be expected to approve of a bill that affects one-sixth of this nation’s economy? What about the huge, historical debt that will be passed on to future generations?

Legislators are not telling the whole truth, and there is no transparency — something Obama, Pelosi and other Democratic leaders pledged to Americans if they were voted into office.

One of the big questions is why the national media are not asking more questions and holding Obama to his promises of openness and transparency and questioning the power tactics being used to gain votes.

If Bush and his advisers had engaged in anything like what is going on in Washington today, there would be massive critical condemnation by the nation’s media. Why is it so silent today?

Pelosi and Senate President Harry Reid are asking their fellow Democrats to approve the bill even if it means they are likely to be defeated in the 2010 or 2012 elections. They are being asked to fall on their own swords.

What is happening is that Obama is indeed following through on one of his campaign pledges: to fundamentally change this country. It is a matter of ideology and philosophy.

The question facing those in Congress, as well as American citizens, is what is more important: pleasing the current president or doing what is best for the country for years to come?