Good move, Mr. President

It's great to see the President has called for an address to Congress next week, to clarify and push for health care reform.

That's great news.

As everyone has discussed, he didn't want to make the mistake of the Clintons by pushing through his own reform so he left it up to Congress.

Maybe a little too much so.

So now, with the reform somewhat floundering, he seems to be taking the proverbial "bull by the horns", thank goodness.

This should do two things that are badly needed for this reform, too.

First, it should help him clarify the statistics--the true, hard data--on health care in the US and how dismal it is.

It costs so much, it covers so little, our costs have gone up exponentially and continue to do so, etc. This message, next week, can and should be kept simple so the more of the American public "get it" and so it can't be overridden by the right wing and corporate rants.

Second, it should help him dispel the blatant, out-and-out mistruths, misrepresentations, lies and even hysteria that has been created and distributed by anyone against this reform.

On a side note, I think the President and his staff should stop saying we need government insurance so we can "keep the insurance companies honest." That just creates more problems, I think, and puts them on edge. Instead, he should just say we need this 2nd insurance option to "keep them competitive." He won't so automatically create enemies this way.

So this is terrific. We need to refocus this push and this is just the time and he is the only person, singularly, who can do this.

We have to all be behind him and get the information out, sure. We can help but there has to be a leader and it can only come from him. He has to push Congress.

And then we can bring them along.

Link to story:
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE58146N20090903
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/health/policy/03care.html?_r=1&th&emc=th