Even as President Barack Obama set August as a "make-or-break" deadline for overhauling the health care system, Tom Daschle, initally tapped by Obama to run the reform effort, predicted a "50-50 chance that something's going to pass."
The phrase "Even as" denotes that there is some sort of inherent conflict between the positions stated in the two sentences. While they are talking about the same topic the two are independent of each other. Obama has set an August deadline. That the chances for health care reform may be only 50/50 does not seem to undermine or contradict Obama's statement.
If Daschle said, "We'll need at least 6 more months to hammer this out," then I can see the use of the phrase "Even as." But he didn't say that, he simply stated that the odds are 50/50.
McClatchy is generally much better than the AP but still this seems like sloppy writing done to hype a conflict that's just not there.
Or am I just reading this wrong?
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