Jennifer Foster: Finally, Obama shows the way on health care

In this space last week, I offered a list of things President Obama should do in his speech to Congress to help right the health care debate that went so wrong this summer.

The president showed up with his speech on Wednesday — boy, did he ever show up. Democrats must have been so relieved to have their QB back from the sidelines.

Obama hit about three-quarters of the things on my list. But the key moment came early. He set it up by acknowledging the biggest divide: On the left, liberal Democrats “who believe that the only way to fix the system is through a single-payer system” that would “have the government provide coverage for everybody;” on the right, conservative Republicans who want to “end employer-based systems and leave individuals to buy health insurance on their own.”
And then:

“… There are arguments to be made for both these approaches. But either one would represent a radical shift that would disrupt the health care most people currently have. Since health care represents one-sixth of our economy, I believe it makes more sense to build on what works and fix what doesn’t, rather than try to build an entirely new system from scratch.”

Bingo. Welcome to the party, common sense. The president outlined specific things he wants in the bill, including so much insurance reform that he should start using that phrase instead of “health care reform.” And his support for medical malpractice reform even had Republicans cheering.

Of course, as good as the speech was and the new strategy is, the controversy remains. Tough questions, daunting hurdles and difficult choices await. But at least there is now leadership where absolutely none existed before.

Most of my Republican friends who saw the speech reacted with skepticism. A good speech, sure, but just a speech.

But it wasn’t. It was at once both a blanket over the flames of angry discontent and the spark lawmakers needed to get moving again. An address like this, that is both, is more a wonder than a speech.

I don’t understand why my GOP friends disparage and dismiss Obama’s oratorical gift. They revere President Reagan — “The Great Communicator” — for the ability he had to connect with Americans and inspire them to believe that something better was possible.

That’s what Obama did Wednesday night.

Pundits said before the speech that the president needed a game-changer to turn around the mess the health care debate has become. But Obama has relied on oratory to rescue him from political quicksand before. Without his landmark speech on race relations in March 2008 precipitated by the Jeremiah Wright controversy, Barack Obama would still be the junior senator from Illinois.

But Candidate Obama controlled his own destiny last year. As I told a Democratic friend this week, the question now is whether the overreaching liberal Democrats in Congress will do themselves a favor and climb the ladder the president threw into their pit of floundering failure, or whether they’ll keep digging their way back to minority status.

If President Obama’s speech can’t convince them to put down the shovels, nothing will.

* * *

Yesterday marked eight years since terrorists attacked America.

I hope you took some time to remember the victims and their families. I hope you reflected on the events of that day and remembered what it was like to watch them unfold. I hope you allowed yourself to recall the overwhelming confusion and anger that pervaded our country, and the strength of the resolve that took their place.

May we never lose those memories — or that resolve.

Jennifer Foster is a political enthusiast who lives in Auburn and writes a column for the Opelika-Auburn News. She can be reached at