Some warp-speed buck-passing on the Democrats health-care reform bill today. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that the bill is moving to the ‘back-burner’.

“The president believes it is the exact right thing to do,” Gibbs said. “By giving this some time, by letting the dust settle, if you will, and looking for the best path forward.”

He said the president has “a very full plate” with financial reform and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (all of which poll better than health-care) and would leave it up to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to “continue to look to the best way forward.”

Meanwhile one Senate Democrat is signaling that whatever the majority does, they had best do it quickly:

Speaking to reporters this afternoon, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Senate leadership is still considering what to do about health care legislation in the wake of the Massachusetts Senate election. But he said that whatever plan is agreed on, Democrats want health care off the table by March.
“I don’t think we want this to go on for three more months,” he said. “You have to make a decision.” Schumer said that Democrats are making sure to rush a plan on reform and said that “it will take a few days” for the caucus to come up with plan to pass health care reform without their supermajority.
Reconciliation is one of a few options under discussion, Schumer said. But he said that “concerns about the political climate” make that plan less than appealing to some Democrats. “It’s one of the considerations,” he said when asked if Democrats worry voters will react badly to a health care bill passed with through reconciliation.