President Obama on Friday pledged not to "walk away" from health care reform, telling a crowd in the Cleveland suburbs that he's still committed to driving down health care costs despite the crippling effect his party's loss in the Massachusetts Senate election had on the Democrats' bill.

The president, who with party leaders has urged Congress to take a step back on health care reform, downplayed the drama and confusion that has dominated Capitol Hill since Republican Scott Brown's upset win in Massachusetts. He aggressively defended the work his administration has done so far on the economy, urged Congress to pass a new jobs bill and tried to link health care reform to that issue...