An Uninsurable's Reaction to Obama's 9/09 Healthcare Speech

An Uninsurable's Response To Obama's 9/09 Healthcare Speech

President Obama has the amazing power to move a person to tears and to action. He speaks and suddenly all seems and feels possible. The Obama fever runs very high to very cold. People either love him or they hate him. How rude, how distasteful, how American was it of Senator Joe Wilson, from South Carolina, to yell out “you lie” during the President’s address. Before I get booed or heckled for the statement ”how American” let me explain further. I say that and simply mean in this country we have the right to voice our opinions in agreement and in opposition. I think most of us can agree that yelling out during the President’s speech was grossly inappropriate but freedom of speech is a beautiful privilege despite how disdainful, hurtful and ignorant the speech may be - the right (in this case) is the thing.

“I am not the first President to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last” - almost instantly those words sent shivers up and down my spine. “Our collective failure to meet this challenge - year after year, decade after decade - has led us to a breaking point. Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured, who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy.” I trembled as I listened to the President say that "no one in the US should suffer needlessly without health insurance. This country is far too great to have its people dying and suffering simply because they cannot afford insurance or have been denied due to preexisting conditions."

It is my hope that many of the people I have listened to lately go on and on about the inherent evil of all things Barack Obama really listened to what was being said in his address. If I had a dollar for all the times I have heard people state that they oppose this healthcare plan because they work hard for their health care and don’t want to support drug addicts and the lazy, I could personally fund the healthcare system for the entire country. I hope it was clear that the people suffering the most are not the ne’er-do-wells but rather our next door neighbors, a parent in the PTA, our members at church, our friends and in many cases our own family. Many of us are just one hardship from despair. “We are the only advanced democracy on Earth - the only wealthy nation - that allows such hardships for millions of its people. There are now more than thirty million American citizens who cannot get coverage. In just a two year period, one in every three Americans goes without health care coverage at some point. And every day, 14,000 Americans lose their coverage. In other words, it can happen to anyone.”

President Obama gives me what I call the "Clinton Chills" – that slow southern drawl type cadence and melodious down home Baptist preacher/civil rights leader way of speaking that runs through you and makes you want to go upfront and confess your sins, start over and try to live a more righteous life. You can almost hear the humming and quiet singing in the background “softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me….come home, come home ye who are weary come home…oh sinner come home." It makes you feel like you can do any and everything and redemption isn’t just possible but a must.

I am college educated and grew up in a middle class Christian family. I attended private schools my entire life. I have Lupus; I am one of those uninsurable people that insurance companies refuse to cover due to pre-existing conditions. I am not a drug addict nor am I a vagrant but if I were would I be any less deserving of health care? There but by the grace of God go I. Thankfully by the grace of God my family has been able to pay a ridiculously exorbitant fee every month so that I can keep the health insurance I had gotten through my job when I was able to work. It is a hardship on my family but we feel blessed it can be done no matter how much it strains us financially. In six months, I will have maxed out my COBRA insurance and I will be uninsured if I am still unable to work and get health insurance through an employer. “That large-heartedness - that concern and regard for the plight of others - is not a partisan feeling. It is not a Republican or a Democratic feeling. It, too, is part of the American character. Our ability to stand in other people's shoes. A recognition that we are all in this together; that when fortune turns against one of us, others are there to lend a helping hand. A belief that in this country, hard work and responsibility should be rewarded by some measure of security and fair play; and an acknowledgement that sometimes government has to step in to help deliver on that promise.”

The most favorable thing I can say about George W. Bush is that right or wrong when he made a decision he didn’t care how much sense it made or if there was a less drastic option – he was the John Wayne of the oval office. It was his town and what he said went because he was the sheriff. Bush definitely played his "I am the commander in chief" card. Obama has had to play his hand a little closer to the vest. If our current President starts up with all that cowboy mumbo jumbo “it’s my way or the highway” type attitude then he’s an "angry black man" and that will get him nowhere in Washington. I admire Obama’s eloquence, intelligence and ability to out class a room of Republicans. When shameless displays of disrespect rear their ugly heads I find myself wanting Obama to throw out some "because I said so" responses and some well phrased "get over it" retorts to all the people in Washington still pouting because he won last November. When these thoughts creep into my mind I ask myself what would that accomplish? Whose cause would that further? The world, our country is in crisis - let’s get it together and start fixing some of these problems. OK he’s black, he has a weird name, he’s a Democrat but he is also a husband, a father, a son, a man, he’s an American and a child of God. These things should not divide us but rather bring us closer together. “Well the time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed. Now is the season for action. Now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together, and show the American people that we can still do what we were sent here to do. Now is the time to deliver on health care.” Obama went on to say, “We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it. I still believe we can act even when it's hard. I still believe we can replace acrimony with civility, and gridlock with progress. I still believe we can do great things, and that here and now we will meet history's test…. Because that is who we are. That is our calling. That is our character.”

Last night a gauntlet was thrown down and it was made clear to us all that it is time to play hardball. The world is watching and the obvious partisan divisiveness was embarassing. Sadly it does not appear that nice has any place in Washington but Obama has called an end to politics as usual. There is a time and a place for everything. It would be easy for Barack Obama to assume W.'s swagger and Nixon's ego but that is not what inspires and motivates people to work for social change and towards social responsibility. It is the ingenuity of FDR, the class of JFK, Jimmy Carter's charm and the wisdom of Abraham Lincoln that has changed the world.

*some names have been substituted*

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