Terri Schiavo Case
Actually, we need several.
The problem with health care is that the lies of those opposed to progress carry more weight than the facts presented by those in favor of progress. The reason for that is that the subject is complex and most people respond quickly to emotional appeals, such as "Death panels killing Granny!" than they do to statistical arguments about healthy life expectancies in Canada.
More below the fold.
So we need symbols. Real people that voters can identify with. Just as the right used poor Terri Schiavo and her family to demonstrate their commitment to the sanctity of life (without actually doing anything to improve the qualify of any human being's life - that would be liberal!), we need to use some poor suffering people to demonstrate the need for progress on the nation's health care system.
We need someone who lost their health care due to rescission, and is dying without treatment. We need to plaster their suffering face all over TV.
We need someone who can't get insurance because of a pre-existing condition, and is dying without treatment. Again, plaster their face all over the MSM.
We need someone who is dying because, while they were uninsured, they came down with a disease that would have been treatable had a simple diagnostic test been run - but, since they were uninsured, they didn't get the test, and now they are dying. And again, exploit them and put their names on the lips of every pundit in America.
There are thousands and even millions of people for each of these categories. We can pick and choose. We need cute - cute victims with cute families. People who aren't overweight, aren't smokers, and have held jobs. Not illegal immigrants, not gay - nothing the GOP can attack, because you know they will, and the point is not to let the attacks distract from the message.
We need to make Mr. and Mrs. America see themselves in these suffering, dying faces. And say "There, but for the grace of God, go I" (atheists: substitute "That could be me").
There is one significant difference between what I propose and what the GOP did to Terri Schiavo's family. Terry Schiavo was never going to get any better. But we may shame an HMO into reversing a recession. We may help an uninsured person raise the money they need for treatment, or at least palliative care. Generous people may contribute money for the education of the exploited person's children. We can make a positive difference in their lives while also advancing a progressive agenda.
It is not a pretty way to win an argument. But the time may have come to fight dirty. President Obama does not seem to have the stomach for this kind of politics; so let's do it for him.
The blood of those murdered by spreadsheet cries out from the ground. Are we our brother's keeper? Are we our sister's keeper? Or do we walk away and say "I'm not going to fight like that."?
Update: New Yorker supports idea