Obama takes health plans to New Hampshire
Updated on 11 August 2009
He's taking the fight for healthcare on the road, a fight over the issue that could define his presidency.
First stop, New Hampshire, who's motto of 'live free, or die' could herald a storm of yet more conservative protest against President Obama's plans to overhaul America's health system.
For the man who just a short time ago seemed unassailable is now in danger of losing the initiative on the very issue he's called his top priority, vital to a recovery for the entire US economy.
In the last few days, his proposals have been vilified, denouced, compared to Nazi Germany and, most notoriously by his erstwhile opponent Sarah Palin, accused of trying to create 'death panels' which could decide the fate of her disabled son.
Public meetings around the country have degenerated into bitter slanging matches, with opponents heckling, screaming down Democratic congressmen, and even brandishing swastikas in the crowd.
That's before you take into account a slew of television adverts, many funded by religious groups, accusing the president of trying to cut Medicare beniefits, fund abortions on the state, and even bring in enforced euthanasia for the elderly and disabled.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and majority leader Steny Hoyer took to the pages of USA Today to denounce the protests as 'un-American' for 'drowning out opposing views'. It's the kind of talk which, predictably, hasn't gone down at all well with their Republican colleagues.
But it's all part of a determined White House effort to hit back, before it's too late: "You ignore those rumours at your peril", deputy communications director Dan Pfeiffer told the New York Times.
Yesterday it launched its own 'Reality Check' website to rebutt the criticism and a new television ad will air this morning, insisting ordinary people will see tangible benefits.
"President Obama's plan will end unfair insurance practices like denying coverage for a pre-existing condition, outrageous out-of-pocket expenses, and dropping coverage when you get too sick," a narrator says in the 30-second ad. "Health insurance reform means your family's care comes first, not insurance industry profits."
Obama is also taking his fight to the people with a series of town hall meetings of his own, starting today in Portsmouth, NH.
Tickets were distributed randomly, says the White House, out of the people who applied online and weren't restricted to those who've campaigned for Obama in the past.
The state's main newspaper reports plans by protestors to demonstrate outside, even using a special Facebook page to co-ordinate their actions. Local Democrats were dismissive, describing them as a 'couple dozen folks in a stte of a million-two that are intent on being disruptive'.
But all this is fast dragging down Obama's approval ratings, provoking internal rifts in his own Democratic party with no clear sign of how the package can get passed by the end of the year.
Angry crowds, a president confronted by hostile protestors, public meetings degenerating into wild accusations and hasty rebuttals.
It's all such a long way from those heady days back in January, when the nation came together as never before.
But then, perhaps that's just democracy, in action.
