US President Barack Obama assailed critics of his healthcare initiative on Saturday, seeking to grab the megaphone from his opponents and boost momentum in his drive for congressional passage of his chief domestic priority.
“I will not accept the status quo. Not this time. Not now,” the president told an estimated 15,000 people during a rally that had every feel of a campaign event, right down to chants of “Fired up, ready to go!” and “Yes, we can!”
PHOTO: AFP
ALL ALONE
The US is the only major industrialized country without a comprehensive health plan, leaving almost 50 million people with insurance. While many Americans are dissatisfied with the healthcare system, attempts to change it are politically explosive.
Days after urging Democrats and Republicans in Congress to come together, an invigorated Obama said his plan incorporates ideas from those on both sides and he promised to continue to seek common ground.
“If you come to me with a serious set of proposals, I will be there to listen. My door is always open,” the president said.
But he warned that he wouldn’t waste time with people who have decided “that it’s better politics to kill this plan than improve it.”
He also said he wouldn’t stand by while special interests “use the same old tactics to keep things exactly the way they are.”
WHO’S LYING?
Obama warned, “If you misrepresent what’s in the plan, we will call you out.”
The pitch came in friendly territory. Democratic-leaning Minnesota is one of the nation’s healthiest states, with relatively few uninsured residents, cost-effective medical care and top healthcare providers such as the Mayo Clinic.
His speech was part of a weekend campaign by the White House to give the president as much exposure as possible after his address on Wednesday to Congress.
At the rally, on network television and in his weekend radio and Internet address, Obama again sought to take the reins of the debate, a task that has proved elusive over the past three months.
The challenge is to energize his supporters and make people with insurance care about his proposal.
NEW ANALYSIS
In Minnesota, he cited a new Treasury Department analysis that found that nearly half of all people under the age of 65 go without health coverage at some point in a 10-year period. The data came from a study that tracked the insurance status of a sample of people from 1997 to 2006.
The report also found that 57 percent of those under 21 will find themselves without insurance at some point during a span of 10 years and that more than one-third of Americans will be without coverage for short periods that add up to a year or more over 10 years.
“In other words, it can happen to anyone,” Obama told the raucous Minneapolis crowd. “There but for the grace of God go I.”
The speech largely tracked the one days earlier in Congress, and he tore into opponents whom he said are spreading rumors designed to scare people.
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