Obama is Fighting for Himself and Health Care Reform

It was eagerly anticipated: Barack Obama’s health reform speech was a good blend of his own ideas, a willingness to compromise and attacks on his critics. He wanted to be the last president to address this issue, announced Obama. But the chances of that are slim.

It finally happened. After weeks of debates, guessing games, mutual accusations from both Democrats and Republicans, after weeks of abstruse rumors and countless screaming matches at town hall meetings, Barack Obama held a keynote speech on the health reform.

In front of members of both chambers of Congress, Obama spoke for more than half an hour about his agenda of a reasonable change to the current system. The television station NBC counted 40 times that the speech was interrupted by applause – although it came mostly from the Democrats, which is exactly the problem.

With regard to content, Obama said very little that was new. The fact that all Americans who already have health insurance could keep it and would be better protected from sudden policy cancellations has already been frequently explained. And the so-called “public option,” insurance organized by the government for those who cannot afford anything else, was an ongoing dialogue over the last few weeks.

After all, Obama’s vision of a “marketplace” in which insurance companies court the non-insured, thus facilitating lower premiums, is also no innovation. The same goes for his plan to avoid causing new debt by financing the majority of the reform with savings from the government programs Medicare and Medicaid, which cover health costs of the old and the poor.

However, what was new was the vehemence with which the president made it clear how urgent the matter was. Since the days of Theodore Roosevelt, head of state from 1901 to 1909, pretty much every president has tried to fix the health care system, but without success up until now. “I am determined to be the last one to address this issue,” Obama now declares. Keeping the status quo is simply no longer affordable.

Furthermore, he is appealing to the sense of honor of each American. Referring to the many millions of people without health insurance, he said: “We are the only highly developed democracy on the planet, the only rich nation that expects something like this of her people.” And with an American reverence towards supposed “historical” duties, he explained that they now have to pass the “test” that the course of time has now imposed upon the government and Congress.

The fierceness with which Obama tackled his critics was also something new. He even used the word “lies” to describe the accusation saying he wanted to let a committee decide over the survival or death of elderly fellow citizens. This abstruse rumor had just been spread again on the same day by Sarah Palin, once a Republican candidate for the vice presidency, in an article for the Wall Street Journal.

Without naming names, Obama did not leave any doubt as to how disgusted he was about such statements. These are acts meant to spread fear and they do not serve the cause. “The time of bickering and playing games is over. Now it is time to act.”

But in addition to all of his criticism, Obama also did not spare any praise. There were many good points made by Democrats as well as from Republicans. Obama especially mentioned John McCain, his Republican opposition in last year’s election. And he also called – much to everyone’s amazement – an initiative by the administration of George W. Bush sensible.

“My door is always open,” Obama said to those who have different “constructive” ideas than his. He does not want just the suggestions from the left or from the right extremes – he does not want to overthrow the system. He addressed his “Republican friends” in attendance directly: “We should work together and discuss all legitimate doubts that you have about this issue.”

Obama’s message this evening: We can make this reform, Democrats and Republicans together, but now we have to sit down again and work together, without impertinent hate campaigns and ideological battles.

At the end, Obama even pulled out a wildcard. He revealed that he had received a letter from Ted Kennedy – the highly respected senator who died two weeks ago from a brain tumor. The letter was written in May of this year but was only delivered after his death, at the wish of the senator himself.

Obama quoted from the letter in front of Kennedy’s widow (cleverly positioned next to the first lady) and a few of his children, who all had tears in their eyes. Kennedy said confidently in his letter, read the president, that the health reform – one of the most important topics in Kennedy’s more than 40-year-long Senate career – will now finally be put in motion.

However, it does not seem to be happening that way. Obama’s speech was good; there is no question of that. But it did not really include any details of his proposed reform. However, even more important in this case was the overall message. And it was right.