Yesterday President Obama delivered the most motivational speech of any president since Franklin D. Roosevelt exhorted Congress to take bold action to lift the country out of The Great Depression in 1933 with the famous words: “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
In this case, of course, Obama was exhorting the “band of brothers” in his Democratic Party to take bold action to provide healthcare for over 30 million uninsured Americans. But that he had to summon historic rhetoric to motivate members of his own party to do the right thing is an indictment of the selfish and superficial nature of politics today.
Anyway, here, in part, is what he said:
Is this the single most important step that we have taken on health care since Medicare? Absolutely. Is this the most important piece of domestic legislation, in terms of giving a break to hard working, middle-class families out there since Medicare? Absolutely… We are not bound to win, but we are bound to be true… Don’t do it for me … Do it for the American people…
It is in your hands. It is time to pass health care reform for America and I am confident that you are going to do it tomorrow.
The decisive vote in the House will take place this afternoon.
And let’s hope Obama’s confidence proves more warranted in this case than it did in his picking Kansas to win the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship. Because a lowly band of brothers from Northern Iowa knocked the top-seeded boys from Kansas out of the tournament yesterday in a stunning upset 69 to 67.
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