In a few hours, Mr. President, you will give the most important speech of your first eight months as President of the United States. On behalf of millions who worked for your election and are delighted by your Presidency, I want you to know that we have your back. You will stand on that podium with millions of us behind you.
In less than eight months, you have brought health care reform further, faster, than any President before you. You have kept the trust, and will do so again tonight, we're sure.
I hope Congress, in the next weeks, gives you everything you ask for tonight. That's perhaps not likely, given the nature of the two-house congress our Framers created. But you know what? You've brought us 90% of the way to the most progressive social legislation in forty years. You've brought us 90% of the way to saving Medicare from bankruptcy and providing a New Foundation for our future. Tonight, you will speak with the knowledge that the WORST of the proposals before Congress... Max Baucus' proposal... does the following in the words of Ezra Klein:'
The legislation really would protect millions of Americans from medical bankruptcy. It really would insure tens of millions of people. It really will curb the worst practices of the private insurance industry. It really will expand Medicaid and transform it from a mish-mash of state regulation into a dependable benefit. It really will lay down out-of-pocket caps which are a lot better than anything people have today. It really will help primary care providers, and it really will make hospitals more transparent, and it really will be a step towards paying for quality rather than volume.
To put it more starkly, it really will be the most important progressive policy passed since Lyndon Johnson.
Of course, we want more. We want a new system, not patches to the existing system. But everything in the blockquote above will be because of you. And none of our previous Presidents could get that done.
So as you walk to the podium tonight, Mr. President, know that you do so with the support of millions of us who will have your back for the end game.