Subject: [big campaign] New Huff Post from Creamer -- Why Health Insurance Reform Will Pass This Fall
From: [email-masked]
To: [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2009 09:19:22 EDT
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

Why Health Insurance Reform Will  Pass This Fall – It’s the  High 
Political Ground 

Forget about the talking heads’ narrative about the  “sagging prospects” 
of President Obama’s health insurance reform proposal. Much  of the same gang 
was completely convinced that Obama could never win the  nomination – and 
once nominated would have a hard time winning the  election.   
You have to wonder sometimes if there shouldn’t be a  penalty for pundits 
who make self-assured predictions that are regularly wrong,  and yet continue 
to be treated as if they know what they’re talking  about. 
The fact is that the odds are very good that President  Obama will succeed 
in passing landmark health insurance reform legislation this  fall – with a 
robust public health insurance option.  The reason is simple: it’s the high  
political ground. 
Health insurance reform represents the high political  ground for four 
major reasons: 
1). Most  Americans – including swing voters – can’t stand the health 
insurance  industry. As Congress reconvenes, the Administration and its allies 
will  unleash a major drive to correctly define the battle as a contest 
between the  interests of private health insurance companies and ordinary 
Americans.  Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the  big coalition of progressive 
organizations and Labor, will put it this way:  If the insurance companies 
win, you lose.   
They will systematically define just how the big private  insurers impact 
ordinary people and how the Obama health insurance reform  proposal will 
solve the problem. 
It’s a pretty compelling narrative.  For decades, the health insurance  
companies have made a fortune (over $60 billion in profits over the last eight  
years) by denying claims, denying insurance because of pre-existing 
conditions,  making health care decisions instead of doctors and raising premiums 
almost four  time faster than wages. 
And all the while the CEO’s of the ten largest insurers  made an average of 
$8.5 million in pay last year – about $4,100 per hour.  
Think about the campaign commercial that paints the  picture of the 
incumbent Member of Congress who votes for health  insurance CEO’s like Cigna’s 
Edward Hanway -- who will retire with a $73 million  golden parachute this 
fall – and votes against patients who are denied  coverage for their cancer 
treatments.  It is not a pretty political picture and it will become more and 
more  vivid in the minds of Members of Congress as November 2010 comes into 
view over  the political horizon. 
2). The Obama  Administration will use every ounce of its political capital 
to win this battle.  The President and his top  advisors understand that -- 
when it comes to health care -- failure is simply not an  option.  They 
know that defeat  on health care would be a huge blow to the President’s 
ability to pass his  entire agenda and his own standing with the voters.  People 
follow successful leaders – not  those who fail.  
As a result, the President will use every bit of his  charm, his persuasive 
ability and the formidable powers of the Presidency to  secure the votes to 
win.   
And make no mistake.  While Barack Obama would prefer a  bi-partisan bill 
passed through the regular order with broad consensus, he has  an iron will 
and will pass a bill by one vote using special budget procedures if  that is 
necessary to win. He is a huge fan of Lincoln’s Team of Rivals, but in 
matters of  legislation his model is Lyndon Johnson. 
Anyone who doubts the strength of his resolve – or his  resourcefulness – 
doesn’t yet understand Barack Obama. 
3).  As the vote grows closer, many moderate  Democrats will begin to 
realize the price they will pay personally if health  insurance reform fails.  
After  the defeat of the Clinton health care proposal in 1994, it was  not the 
most progressive members of the Democratic Caucus who lost when the  
Republicans took back control of the House – it was the moderates and  
conservatives.  
The fact is that just as a rising tide raises all boats,  when the tide 
recedes, it is those in the shallowest political water who are  left aground.  
If the President’s positives –and those of the Democratic  Party--plummet 
because they fail to pass health insurance reform (which is  exactly what 
the Republicans believe will happen), moderate Democrats – even  those who 
opposed the bill – will pay the price at the polls.  In the final analysis 
after all, even in  more conservative districts, if swing voters decide they 
like Democrats less,  they are likely to vote for a real Republican not a 
Democrat who acts like one.   
This principle works for both parties.  Last year, when the political tide  
receeded for Republicans across the country, the losers were not Members 
from  bright red districts.  They were  people like Norm Coleman and Gordon 
Smith who turned themselves into pretzels to  look “moderate”.  
4).  Finally, the pundits have ignored a  critically important new 
development : the Obama base has been energized.  
Early in August, Progressives were surprised at the  ferocity of the right 
wing assault on Congressional town meetings.  But it didn’t take long for 
them to  respond.  Led by Obama’s own  organization , Organize for America 
(OFA), as well as HCAN, the Service  Employees International Union, and the 
American Federation of State, County and  Municipal Employees – hundreds of 
thousands of Progressives have been mobilized  to counter the Right.  They 
swamped  the Right at town meetings at the end of August and are now conducting 
a week of  2000 “Let’s Get It Done” events in the lead-up to Congress’ 
return.  
There is no longer any lack of progressive  intensity.  The right wing 
assault  awakened progressive passion that has spread like the Los Angeles  
wildfires. 
My wife, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, hosted a town  meeting in Skokie,  
Illinois on Monday night that  attracted 2,300 people.  Eighty-percent 
supported reform – and they were pumped.  
The response of voters asked to call Congress about  health insurance 
reform has exploded.  
Some of the millions of Americans who were engaged and  mobilized by last 
year’s Presidential campaign may have taken a respite from  politics in the 
early months of 2009 – but they’re back – and they are a massive  political 
army that cannot be taken lightly.  
In other words, as Members of Congress reconvene on the  battleground for 
this fall’s decisive engagement over health insurance reform,  they will look 
up the political ridge and see that the cavalry has arrived.  
I believe we will  win. 
Robert Creamer is a longtime political  organizer and strategist, and 
author of the recent book:  Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can  Win, 
available on _Amazon.com._ 
(http://www.amazon.com/Listen-Your-Mother-Straight-Progressives/dp/0979585295/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213241439&sr=8-1) 

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