I just got back from the Target Center in Minneapolis where I watched President Obama speak to a crowd of tens of thousands of people who are defiantly fired up and ready to go for health reform.
Last time I saw him he was clinching the Democratic nomination.
The time before that, February 2nd, back at the Target Center, he was on the verge of his February 5th wins, including a 2-1 victory in Minnesota.
And even before that the crowd was smaller but even in June '07 MN was fired up and ready to go.
Today he spoke about a urgent matter facing our country and Congress: health reform.
To get to our goal, quality healthcare for all, we will have to remember the lessons that got Barack Obama to June 3rd, 2008 when he clinched the nomination of the Democratic Party.
You can read the full prepared text here. It was a great speech. Maybe the best I've seen him give in person.
He laid out clearly why having no reform is not a option.
If we do nothing, your premiums will continue to rise faster than your wages. If we do nothing, more businesses will close down and fewer will open in the first place. If we do nothing, we will eventually spend more on Medicare and Medicaid than every other government program combined. That is not an option for the United States of America. So Minnesota, I may not be the first President to take up the cause of health care reform, but I am determined to be the last.
He gave a report on the progress we have made so far
The good news is, we are now closer to reform than we have ever been. After debating this issue for the better part of the year, there is now agreement in Congress on about eighty percent of what needs to be done. That has never happened before. And our overall efforts have been supported by an unprecedented coalition of doctors and nurses; hospitals, seniors’ groups and even drug companies - many of whom opposed reform in the past.
And the closed with a inspiring and clear call to action.
I need your help. I never said that change would be easy. Change is hard. It always has been. And ever since I was a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago, I have always believed that change doesn’t start in Washington, DC. It begins in places like Minneapolis. It begins in places like St. Paul. It begins with people who have the courage to share their stories and then fight for something better. It begins with you.
That’s how change happens. And that’s what has to happen right now. If you want a health care system where insurance companies can’t drop your coverage or deny you care, I need you to knock on a few doors and talk to your neighbors. If you want to make sure that you can keep your health care if you lose your job or change your job, I need you to make a few phone calls. If you believe, as our friend Ted Kennedy always said, that health care is not a privilege, but a fundamental right for every American, then I need you to make your voice heard in Washington.
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Kathleen Sebelius in her intro made it quite clear that this is a battle on par with the fights for Medicare and Social Security. Those victories did not come easy, they required a lot of hard work and a lot of organizing. To win this victory we will need to learn the lessons of those fights and the massive grassroots mobilization that was required to win them as well as the lessons of the Obama campaign.
So how can we make our voice heard in Washington? How can we win this debate? How can we provide quality, affordable healthcare for all? That is the key question facing us right now. I think there are five main points to keep in mind as we go forward in this debate:
Goal:
It was easier on a campaign, but to win health reform in 2009 we need to have a clear goal. We may have different ideas for what our ideal healthcare system might look like (personally I'd like to see modified version of Medicare expanded to cover all basic care for citizens under 65) but we have reached this point and we need to unite behind one goal: The President's Plan for Health Reform. That includes a ban on discrimination based on pre-existing conditions, it includes out of pocket caps, it includes tax credits to make health insurance affordable, it includes payment reform, it includes a exchange, it includes a public option.
It's a good plan.
Strategy:
We have to have a clear strategy to achieve our goal. We will win by putting stories up front, staying focused and organizing.
We will need to build coalitions and make unlikely allies. We need a both / and strategy.
Stories:
If you were involved in the Obama campaign you know how important the story of self was. To win this debate and achieve our goal we need to put the stories of the American people, of you and me, up front. That's what letters to Obama was about. We win when we tell our friends, family and neighbors why our stories and this is important. Beacuse this should never happen in America
The most important way to impact this debate is by telling your story. At a townhall, in a letter to the editor, to people you know, in a e-mail to Congress, in a letter to the President. Tell your story.
Focus:
If we're going to win we've got to stay focused. We can't get caught up and obsess about the 24/7 traditional media news cycle. We can't be constantly handwringing. That doesn't get us anywhere. The only thing that matters is winning, getting sidetracked by the latest outrage doesn't help us get there. The mantra of the Obama campaign was "No Drama with Obama." That needs to be ours in the grassroots/netroots if we want to win.
Don't despair, don't give up, don't lose focus. The stakes are too high. Freaking out about news reports doesn't get us more votes in the Senate.
Organizing:
And finally we will win by organizing. Block by block, phone by phone, e-mail by e-mail. We need to leave everything on the road for health reform to borrow a phrase. On Thursday I suggested five actions to start with, if you haven't yet you should do all five, byt we will need to do a lot more then that in the coming days and months.
The Obama campaign wasn't won by accident, it was won by the tireless work of thousands of organizers in every state of the country who did amazing work. And that's the story of America. That's how the movements for the New Deal reforms won, that's how the great social movements of the 60s and the consumer and environmental movements of the 70s won. With the amazing, dedicated and untold hard work and organizing of thousands of true American heroes.
And once again we must step up and organizing, step up and take action. You can make a difference. And many of you already are.
We are closer than ever to winning. 4 out of 5 congressional committees have passed health reform that meet the President's principles, hundreds of thousands of Americans have contacted their representatives for health reform in 2009, hundreds of thousands of Americans showed up at health townhalls this August and made suporters of reform outnumber the teagbaggers, 6905 have donatedto representatives who stood up for the public option, and many more have taken action in other ways.
Join the movement. Join OFA, HCAN, FDL, PCCC, ProgressiveCongress.org, DFA. Let's organize, let's mobilize, let's focus, let's take action and let's win.
Are you fired up and ready to go for health reform?
Important activist info: For alerts on action diaries and other important healthcare news, please sign up for Netroots for Healthcare or follow along on Twitter: @Netroots4HC.
Cross posted from MN Progressive Project. Follow me on TWITTER.