Obama Offers Direction, Bipartisanship In Historic Speech

Yes, I was VERY impressed, thus the “historic.”

But what about the actual policy? Some thoughts…

1. You can’t be dropped because of pre-existing conditions. No surprise there, but to me this is the most important reform. Also, no more yearly or lifetime caps. For catastrophic illness, this is a must.
2. Stressing that nobody will be forced to change doctors or insurance providers, he’s not in favor of wholesale changes in how health insurance is delivered. And he specifically called a single payer system unrealistic. This should reassured most independents.
3. Health insurance will now be mandated under this plan. That’s a tricky one, and it goes against what he said in the campaign. My guess is that this will be the new target for Republicans, “This is a health tax on everybody” etc.
4. He wants a public option, but he’s not tied to it as the end all be all. That means that we’ll most likely get a localized co-op public option instead of a centralized system. Again, this should appeal to independents.
5. He’s open to testing tort reform…which should be big for Republicans.

Now to the politics…

1. Somehow Obama was able to dismiss the most strident elements of health reform opposition while bringing moderate Republicans closer to the table. Basically he gave them a choice: do you really want to take cues from Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck or do you want to solve this problem? It was an impressive bit of framing and he could get a couple more Rs on his side.
2. This was by far the biggest bipartisan speech of his Presidential career and it could prove to be the most important. In fact, most of what he talked about Republicans had to agree with. They were standing up and clapping A LOT. And when they weren’t clapping, well, they cut their own legs out from under themselves.
3. As for Dems, Obama put enough out there for them to like without promising the moon. He clearly didn’t commit to the specific federal public option they wanted, just that some type of non-profit public option should be part of the plan. So now Obama should be able to shape exactly what that is since he’s saying, “Uber-liberals, don’t blow this for us.” I think that message came through loud and clear and all Dems should now fall in line.

In the end, the speech was a gamble but I think it’ll pay off. In fact, his defense of Medicare as bipartisan legislation was spot on and reminded voters who’s really for Medicare and who wants to slash it. Of course I hesitate to say this one is historic, but have you heard a better defense of government helping the weak and wounded? I certainly haven’t.

Here’s the question: What compromises will Obama have to accept in order to get reform passed?

(Photo: Reuters via Daylife)