Obama's 11th-hour rallying cry in fight for healthcare reform

Published on Friday 19 March 2010 20:54

BARACK Obama has delivered a rousing closing argument for the goal to which he has devoted much of his presidency, urging politicians to "do something historic" and pass a sweeping overhaul of the US healthcare system this weekend.

• Barack Obama gets his sleeves rolled up as he address an 8,500-strong crowd in Washington yesterday. Picture: Getty Images

With tomorrow's expected vote hanging on the support of a handful of wavering Democrats, the president summoned both pragmatism and principle to sway the undecideds to his side.

In an energetic, 20-minute speech before a campaign-style rally of several thousand at a Washington college yesterday, he emphasised the bill's provisions that would go into effect this year. These include banning insurers from denying coverage to those with pre-existing medical conditions, dropping coverage when a person becomes ill or imposing annual or lifetime limits on care; requiring free preventive care, and allowing children to stay on parents' policies into their 20s.

If the vote failed, "the insurance industry will continue to run amok", Mr Obama said.

He said the bill, if it became law, would deliver "the toughest insurance reforms in history" and "the largest middle-class tax cut for healthcare in history".

"What we are talking about is common-sense reform," he said, delivering his remarks at high-decibel levels and ad-libbing away. "You've been hearing a whole bunch of nonsense," he said at one point.

The president urged politicians to reach beyond current disputes and grasp the history-making aspect of the bill. "It's a debate that is not only about the cost of our healthcare but the character of our country, about whether we can still meet the challenges of our time, about whether we still have the guts and the courage to give every citizen a chance," he said.

Mr Obama pointed to contentious debates in past decades over creating the now-popular pensions and healthcare for the elderly and enacting civil rights laws.

"As messy as this process is, as frustrating as this process is, as ugly as this process can be, when we have faced such decisions in our past, this nation time and time again has chosen to extend its promise to more of its people," he said. "I know this will be a tough vote. I know that everybody is counting votes right now in Washington. We are going to do something historic this weekend. We are going to fix healthcare in America."

It was the fourth campaign-style healthcare event Mr Obama has held on in the past two weeks, and his last public push for the legislation that tops his domestic priority list. He postponed until the summer a trip Indonesia and Australia to stay in Washington to try to ensure the bill's passage, and rolled up his shirt sleeves to wade into his delivery.

With so much riding on the outcome – from the policy changes he so wants to his own political standing – the president spoke in folksier language than usual. The first-come, first-served crowd of 8,500 responded with vigour, punctuating his speech with loud cheers and ovations.

A handful of people booed and interrupted, with one yelling: "No socialism."

Mr Obama also tackled the rampant speculation over the political ramifications of a win or a defeat. "What's it going to mean for Obama? Will his presidency be crippled … or will he be the comeback kid?" he mocked. "A lot of reporting in Washington, it's considered a sport and who's up and who's down, and everybody's keeping score."