The Daily Orange News Analysis provides insight into important news events while focusing on the background, context and future of the situation. The article is influenced by the writer’s understanding, reporting and familiarity with the subject matter, but does not contain any personal opinions.

When President Barack Obama addressed Congress and the nation Wednesday night about health care, the stakes were high. His approval rating had steadily slipped since his inauguration, and many have accused him of not taking enough initiative in forming health care legislation. His party’s viability rested in his hands.

‘What the Democrats need to realize is that if Obama fails, that hurts all Democrats,’ said Kyle Rapone, president of Syracuse University’s College Democrats. ‘The midterm elections are next year. So, the Democrats really need to get together and have something passed because if not, it could hurt them all.’

Americans appear to be growing weary of the government’s inability to agree and pass health care legislation. Obama’s approval rating dropped from 62 percent in February to its current 56 percent rating, according to a New York Times and CBS News poll.

Obama has ‘over-learned the lesson’ of the Clinton health care plan fiasco, said Robert Reich, Bill Clinton’s former labor secretary, in the August edition of the Rolling Stone. Obama admitted Wednesday on ABC’s Good Morning America that he ‘probably left too much ambiguity out there.’ A series of town hall meetings throughout the country in recent weeks and Wednesday night’s address attempted to remedy this situation.

‘I am not the first president to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last,’ Obama said in his speech.

During the speech, Obama advocated the public option, a government-run health care plan that citizens would have the choice to buy, although he said he would be open to other ideas that provide Americans with affordable coverage.

‘You see, our predecessors understood that government could not, and should not, solve every problem,’ Obama said in an attempt to calm people’s fears of big government. ‘But they also understood that the danger of too much government is matched by the perils of too little. … What was true then remains true today.’

He assured that those who already have insurance will not lose it and said the Congressional Budget Office estimated that only 5 percent of Americans would have to sign up.

Costs for the plan, which Obama said amount to $900 billion over ten years, would be covered by cutting wasteful spending in the current health care system. Reforming health care will eventually reduce the deficit by $4 million, he said.

Despite Obama’s attempt to assuage fears, Republicans still oppose the plan. Shortly after Obama ended his address, Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele issued a statement: ‘The president has proven his ability again to speak very well and say very little. He continued to try and sell his government-run health care experiment even though it will increase costs, increase taxes and increase the deficit.’

The main point of contention is the public option. Each of the four versions of the bill already drafted contains the public option. America now awaits the Senate Finance Committee’s version, which committee chairman Sen. Max Baucus said will not contain the public option. Instead it would create private insurers.

Republicans and fiscally conservative Democrats who oppose the public option, say private insurers will not be able to compete with the government-run program.

‘The ultimate goal appears to be to weaken the private sector,’ said Daniel Fitzpatrick, the president of SU’s College Republicans. ‘It would eliminate smaller insurance companies. There are public policies that you can put in place that would benefit the private market.’

Some Republicans have charged that with the recession and the national deficit, the country cannot afford the public option.

‘At a time when we’ve somehow misplaced $2 trillion of our national debt, it’s hard to say that we should be spending more money without raising revenue,’ said Fitzpatrick, a junior political science major.

But Democrats counter that the ailing health care system is a factor in the worsening economy and fixing it will help the economy. Health care makes up one-sixth to one-seventh of the U.S. economy, Reeher said.

Far-left Democrats have criticized Obama for aiming too low, saying that the single-payer health care system is the only way to cut the $350 billion a year spent on paperwork and insure healthcare for the 47 million uncovered Americans. But Reeher said that this option is not a political reality in America right now.

‘The United States has followed a certain path in health care over the last 50 years that has led us to a situation where, politically, it’s difficult to think about reorganizing the entire system to that extent,’ Reeher said.

Despite the turmoil and debate surrounding the attempt to reform health care, Obama remains optimistic that some bill will pass soon. He ended his address with his signature hopeful tone.

‘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.’

rhkheel@syr.edu

Published on September 9, 2009 at 12:00 pm