Obama: Dems Should be "Proud to Campaign" on Health Care
"If Republicans want to campaign against what we've done by standing up for the status quo... that is a fight I want to have," Mr. Obama told House Democrats today at their issues conference. "If their best idea is to return to the ideas of yesterday, they're going to lose that argument."
The president and congressional Democrats are nearing a compromise on their health care reform package. Yet as the bill's passage appears increasingly inevitable, Republicans have indicated they could build their 2010 midterm election campaigns on the promise of repealing the Democrats' legislation.
Indeed, few Americans approve of the way Mr. Obama or congressional Democrats have handled health care. However, even fewer approve of the way Republicans have handled it.
"I know how big a lift this has been," the president told his fellow Democrats. "I see the polls."
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He argued, however, that "once we sign this bill into law the American people will suddenly learn this bill does things they like... the worst fears will prove groundless."
The legislation, Mr. Obama said, will in its first year ban "some of the worst practices of the insurance industry forever." Americans will have secure, affordable, quality health care , he said, and the bill will bring down costs.
For those worried about deficits, "you have nothing to apologize for," the president said. "This represents the biggest step towards deficit reduction in years."
"That's something that every one of you can be proud to campaign on this November," he said.
While acknowledging some Democrats have been "beaten up at home" over health care, Mr. Obama said Democrats must remember why they first ran for public office: "We found something we thought was worth fighting for."