TheLoop21.com

By: Michael E. Ross (Add to your loop)
Wed, 07/22/2009 - 15:10

The president pushes for change at a news conference.

President Obama took off the latex gloves of a deft political surgeon Wednesday night and laced up the boxing gloves of a president ready to go toe to toe with an insurance industry dead set against changes in the nation’s health care system — and that industry’s enablers in Congress. It's about time.

In a prime-time news conference from the East Room of the White House, Obama set the terms plainly enough for everyone to understand: The stakes couldn’t be higher. If the costs of health care can’t be controlled, those costs will control us.

The president, who opened the news conference with prepared remarks, appeared to step away from a deadline of August for a bill to reach his desk. “We will pass reform that lowers cost, promotes choice and provides coverage that every American can count on. And we will do it this year,” he said, with no promise that would happen in the next month.

But for much of the 55-minute conference, the president tried to deeply connect with all Americans, not just the 47 million without an insurance card in their wallet — about half of whom are black or Hispanic.

“Reform is about every American who has ever feared that they may lose their coverage if they become too sick, or lose their job, or change their job," Obama said. “If we do not reform health care, your premiums and out-of-pocket costs will continue to skyrocket. If we do not act, 14,000 Americans will continue to lose their health insurance every single day.”

The president soundly rejected attempts by conservatives to characterize this as a pitched battle against Obama himself.

“This debate is about the letters I read when I sit in the Oval Office every day, and the stories I hear at town hall meetings," he said. "This is about the woman in Colorado who paid $700 a month to her insurance company only to find out that they wouldn't pay a dime for her cancer treatment — who had to use up her retirement funds to save her own life. … This is about every family, every business, and every taxpayer who continues to shoulder the burden of a problem that Washington has failed to solve for decades. This debate is not a game for these Americans, and they cannot afford to wait for reform any longer."

Obama continues to face opposition not just from Republicans, but also from conservative Blue Dog Democrats, who want more particulars. “The president needs to step in more forcefully and start making some decisions,” a senior Democratic aide told The New York Times, speaking anonymously. “Everyone appreciates the fact that Obama has devoted so much time to health care. The bully pulpit is powerful. But in view of the deadlines Congress has missed, we would like to hear more from the president about what he wants in this bill.”

On Wednesday, President Obama said “the stars were aligned” for health care reform under his watch as president. For millions of us, the people most affected by escalating health care costs, it’s not stars we’re waiting to see aligned. It’s change — the change we were promised last year — we're waiting to be delivered.

Veteran journalist Michael E. Ross has worked at The New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News, msnbc.com and elsewhere; and was formerly an adjunct professor at the Columbia University School of Journalism. His reviews, fiction, essays and criticism have also appeared in The Times Book Review, Essence, Wired, Entertainment Weekly, Konch, Salon, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Root, PopMatters and other publications. Author of the novel Flagpole Days (2003), and the essay collection Interesting Times (2004), he contributed to the anthologies MultiAmerica (1997), and Soul Food (2000). His newest collection of Weblogs and essays, American Bandwidth, will be published in the summer of 2009.

Is Obama compromising too much in the health care bill?

Yes, we need public option

No, he's keeping the peace

Republicans will block it anyway

Let's wait until the health care summit

I don't know