President Obama was apparently ready to challenge opponents of health care reform in Portsmouth, N.H., this week, but we were surprised to hear of the relative lack of hecklers.
We happen to know that Portsmouth has more than its share of hotheads willing to label any progressive plan as socialism. Not so long ago, in fact it was the home base of Granite State hysteria over Maine tax policy regarding the earnings of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard employees.
But like the rest of the New Hampshire, Portsmouth has a sophisticated tolerance of national politicians and their schemes. Those with a taste for political spectacle have seen Barack Obama before, and perhaps Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon.
Tolerance is what will be needed to make progress in health care reform. The failings of our health system are now apparent to almost everyone, but as the current debate makes clear, there aren’t any quick or easy answers.
Speaking to a crowd of about 1,800 at Portsmouth High School, Obama called for skeptical questions, but got virtually none. The lack of a vocal opposition may have muted the president’s efforts to mount a defense against a growing number of outraged and misinformed demonstrators.
At town meetings across the country, lawmakers are facing fist-shaking hostility over the projected cost to reform health care, and bitter opposition to the idea of changing the U.S. health care system. Among such opponents, well-rehearsed by conservative talk show hosts, there is no apparent willingness to consider change, no matter how far short the current system falls.
Ironically such critics include many who are already beneficiaries of successful health care reform ”“ those who are covered by Medicare. Since the enactment of this program, seniors have been able to count on reliable health care, subsidized by taxpayers. But in an outrageous twist of the truth, the security of Medicare is being used as a weapon against reform.
At a forum in Lebanon, Pa., Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., was confronted by a heckler who repeated one of the lies that is turning some seniors away from health care reform. “You’re here because of the plan we have now,” said a woman, claiming that the plans taking shape in Congress would not pay for cancer treatments for a 79-year-old man.
Such a cruel system would never be tolerated, but scare tactics like this are part of a concerted campaign to block health care reform. Meanwhile, uninsured Americans are getting sick and dying because they do not have access to the tests, care and medication that are routinely available through employee plans and Medicare. As Obama said in Portsmouth: “For all the scare tactics out there, what is truly scary is if we do nothing.”
Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Nick Cowenhoven by calling 282-1535, Ext. 327, or via e-mail at nickc@journaltribune.com.
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