'Got Out and Make Me Do It'

President Barack Obama's address to Congress Wednesday night was not
just a litany of policy prescriptions. It was a call to action.

His approach took a page out of President Franklin Roosevelt's playbook.

FDR once met with a group of activists who sought his support for
bold legislation. He listened to their arguments for some time and then
said, "You've convinced me. Now go out and make me do it."

Even in the middle of the Depression, Roosevelt understood that the
more effectively people created a sense of urgency and crisis, the
easier it would be for him to push for progressive legislation -- what
we now call the New Deal. FDR used his bully pulpit, including radio
addresses, to educate Americans about the problems the nation faced, to
explain why the country needed bold action to address the crisis, and
to urge them to make their voices heard.

Having a president who inspires people to act collectively on their
own behalf can make a difference. It gives people hope and courage to
defy obstacles.

In his speech, Obama, the one-time community organizer, gave health
care reform activists the signal to accelerate their grassroots
organizing campaign to push for a bold plan that includes a public
option and requires insurance companies to act more responsibly.

Over the summer, especially during the August Congressional recess,
an unholy alliance of insurance industry muscle, conservative
Democrats' obfuscation, and right-wing mob tactics stole Obama's
thunder and put his health reform plan at risk. In his speech, Obama
grabbed the initiative back. His fighting words changed the tone and
shifted the momentum.

But he now understands that winning a victory on health care reform
will require more than good ideas and inside-the-Beltway maneuvering
with Congress. It will require a mass movement with a moral message,
voter mobilization, marches, prayer vigils, stories of everyday people
damaged by insurance industry practices, testimony by doctors and
nurses frustrated by the insurance companies' priorities of profits
over patients, and media savvy.

Part of Obama's speech was meant to reassure Americans that he did,
in fact, have a real plan to fix the insurance mess. The President
provided more specifics about his plan than he has in the past,
explaining its key components, its benefits for people whose insurance
policies cost too much or don't provide the services they need, people
who don't have any insurance, and businesses for whom health insurance
costs are a significant burden.

But what was especially impressive about Obama's speech was its
moral vision, his insistence that in a country as great as the United
States, health care should not be a privilege. This is a responsibility
of a decent society.

He read from a letter he had just received from the late Senator Ted
Kennedy, who asked that it be delivered after his death. Kennedy wrote:
"What we face is above all a moral issue; at stake are not just the
details of policy but fundamental principles of social justice and the
character of our country."

Moreover, Obama took aim at the right-wingers - the talk show
fanatics, the tea-party mob who disrupted town meetings, and their
allies in Congress - who have been spreading " bogus claims" and "whose
only agenda is to kill reform at any cost."

These are the extremists who have been spreading fear and confusion
by warning that Obama's "socialized medicine" plan would create "death
panels," subsidize illegal immigrants, pay for abortions, and force
people to drop their current insurance.

Obama did not mince words. He called their claims "a lie plain and
simple." This was the first time that the President used the word "lie"
to describe the disgusting distortions that the extremist echo chamber
-- Glenn Beck, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Sen. Jim Demint (R-S.C.),
Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Betsy McCaughey, RNC Chair
Michael Steele, and their ilk - have been spreading.

He challenged the right-wingers' obsessive efforts to demonize all
government action as stepping stones to socialism. Obama both defended
government and acknowledged its limits.

"You see, our predecessors understood that government could not, and
should not, solve every problem," he said. "They understood that there
are instances when the gains in security from government action are not
worth the added constraints on our freedom. But they also understood
that the danger of too much government is matched by the perils of too
little; that without the leavening hand of wise policy, markets can
crash, monopolies can stifle competition, the vulnerable can be
exploited."

Equally important, Obama finally took off the gloves and came out
swinging against the insurance industry as the major obstacle to
significant reform.

"As soon as I sign this bill, it will be against the law for
insurance companies to drop your coverage when you get sick or water it
down when you need it the most," Obama declared. "They will no longer
be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can
receive in a given year or in a lifetime. We will place a limit on how
much you can be charged for out-of- pocket expenses, because in the
United States of America, no one should go broke because they get sick.
And insurance companies will be required to cover, with no extra
charge, routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and
colonoscopies."

Obama explained that a public option is needed to challenge the
insurance companies' near-monopoly. And he did so by invoking the
conservative principle of competition.

"My guiding principle is, and always has been, that consumers do
better when there's choice and competition," Obama said, "That's how
the market works."

He continued: "Unfortunately, in 34 states, 75 percent of the
insurance market is controlled by five or fewer companies. In Alabama,
almost 90 percent is controlled by just one company. And without
competition, the price of insurance goes up and quality goes down. And
it makes it easier for insurance companies to treat their customers
badly -- by cherry-picking the healthiest individuals and trying to
drop the sickest; by overcharging small businesses who have no
leverage; and by jacking up rates."

Speaking to senior citizens whom right-wingers have tried to
frighten by claiming that Obama's proposal would weaken Medicare, Obama
said, "don't pay attention to those scary stories about how your
benefits will be cut -- especially since some of the same folks who are
spreading these tall tales have fought against Medicare in the past --
and just this year supported a budget that would essentially have
turned Medicare into a privatized voucher program."

"The only thing this plan would eliminate," said the President, "is
the hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and fraud, as well as
unwarranted subsidies in Medicare that go to insurance companies --
subsidies that do everything to pad their profits, but don't improve
the care of seniors."

No doubt the top executives of the major health insurance companies -- such as HealthNet, WellPoint, CIGNA, Aetna, United Health Care Group, and Humana
-- were listening closely to Obama's speech. They've spent tens of
millions of dollars on campaign contributions and lobbying to thwart
Obama's plan. The President avoided attacking them personally, but
chose instead to indict the system which they oversee.

"Insurance executives don't do this because they're bad people,"
Obama observed. "They do it because it's profitable. As one former
insurance executive testified before Congress, insurance companies are
not only encouraged to find reasons to drop the seriously ill, they are
rewarded for it. All of this is in service of meeting what this former
executive called 'Wall Street's relentless profit expectations.'"

"Now, I have no interest in putting insurance companies out of
business," Obama said. "They provide a legitimate service and employ a
lot of our friends and neighbors. I just want to hold them accountable.
And the insurance reforms that I've already mentioned would do just
that, but an additional step we can take to keep insurance companies
honest is by making a not-for-profit public option available in the
insurance exchange."

"The driving idea behind reform," Obama said, "has been to end
insurance company abuses and make coverage available for those without
it."

For those progressives worried that Obama's address would turn into
a concession speech, abandoning his core values to pass any
watered-down bill, the President proclaimed: " I will not back down on
the basic principle that, if Americans can't find affordable coverage,
we will provide you with a choice."

With those words, Obama issued a challenge to the American people
and, in particular, to the activist organizations -- the labor unions,
community groups, faith-based groups, seniors groups like AARP,
netroots groups like MoveOn, Organizing for America (the group created
by his campaign volunteers), and Health Care for America Now (HCAN),
the key coalition spearheading the grassroots citizens campaign for
health care reform. (People interested in having their voices heard
should connect with HCAN).

Obama was letting them know that even the President of the United
States can't reform the health insurance system on his own. To get
Congress to adopt his plan - especially to get the conservative and
centrist Democrats like Senators Max Baucus (Montana), Blanche Lincoln (Ark.), Kent Conrad (N.D.), Jeff Bingaman (N.M.), Ben Nelson (Neb.), Mary Landrieu (La.) and Evan Bayh (Indiana)
- Obama needs an army of ground troops to join the battle. Only a
grassroots movement can transform people's anger, frustrations and
hopes into focused public action, creating a sense of urgency equal to
the health insurance crisis facing the country.

"Now's the time to deliver on health care," Obama insisted.

Obama reminded the members of Congress that "a strong majority of
Americans still favor a public insurance option of the sort I've
proposed tonight." But Obama understands that powerful special
interests - particularly the insurance industry - can offset public
opinion unless the public is organized and mobilized.

Tonight, Obama was telling the American people that he shares their
desire for bold health care reform, but he was asking for their help to
change the political climate so Congress will respond to what most
Americans - not the insurance lobbyists - want.

Echoing FDR, Obama was saying, "Go out and make me do it."