A great day of progressive activism ended with a disappointing speech.
Organizing for America managed to get 300,000+ Americans to call their elected representatives in support of health care reform today. It was an impressive feat of organizing.
The average citizens who called up their elected representatives were motivated by the fact that our current health care system doesn't work. One Hill source told the Huffington Post that 80% of calls to the Capitol Hill were in support of a public option.
The public's frustration with an insurance system where a corporate bureaucrat telling a woman to "get sterilized" if she wants health insurance is what is motivating the activism that the President is applauding.
The public will not be satisfied if they don't get another choice. People want to be able to opt-out of a system where bonuses and performance evaluations are linked to the denial of medically necessary care. People want a health care system where they can choose a plan which puts patients before profits; they want a public option.
Yet, in the immediate aftermath of this impressive feat of activism, the President chose to dismiss legitimate progressive concerns about a bad bill which would force Americans to purchase insurance from the same CEOs who told women to get sterilized if they wanted medical care. I've long opposed a mandate because insurance lobbyists will inevitably peddle outright lies in order to minimize benefits and maximize profits.
I can stand a mandate if it comes with a choice to say no to Karen Ignagni and her insurance executive friends. These are insurance executives who have developed an expertise in denying cancer patients needed surgeries, Lupus patients needed medications, and pregnant women proper prenatal care. While insurance executives have been cutting Americans' access to health care, they've been padding their own pockets.
If we're going to say that we all have a common interest in the public health, then there must be the ability to "say no" to insurance company greed. The millions of Americans who have seen the broken health care system first hand, or through the eyes of a sick relative, want real change. They voted for that real change last November, and a year later they are still working hard to see that real change enacted.
The question for the President is this: does he want to stand with the people and have a legacy of taking on out-of-control corporations (like Theodore Roosevelt did 100 years ago)? Or does he want to be just another politician who says nice things around election time, but stands with the powerful when the rubber meets the road? It's a question that will be answered by the health care reform bill that the President signs.