This past weekend, grassroots supporters gathered at thousands of meetings across the country to kickoff a summer long campaign for health care reform. For Organizing for America, it was the largest post-campaign effort yet, but the timing and the issue couldn't be more urgent.
From the Boston Globe:
Barack Obama became president thanks to house parties like the thousands across the county this weekend, and thanks to activists who wrote checks and blogged and made phone calls to neighbors for the campaign. The agenda then was clear: Win the election.Now Obama is reactivating his grass-roots political machine for a new purpose: Pass major legislation overhauling the nation's healthcare system.
From Reuters:
From a living room in Kansas to a bagel shop in New York to an Alabama church, Democrats have started mobilizing support for President Barack Obama's healthcare reform plans. Suburban housewives and social workers mixed with Baptist ministers, college students, retirees and many others at grassroots gatherings over the weekend. Spurred by the Democratic National Committee's burgeoning political machine dubbed "Organizing for America," thousands of such meetings had been planned for Friday through Monday. Those attending the scripted two-hour events viewed a videotaped message from Obama, shared personal stories and made local battle plans to counter the expected stiff opposition. "It's going to be a vicious fight," said 76-year-old Hank Putsch who attended an organizing meeting on Saturday at a Kansas City restaurant. "The insurance companies and healthcare companies are gearing up to oppose this. We've got to get our voices heard." Obama has declared this summer "make-or-break" time for healthcare reform and has called on Congress to pass comprehensive legislation by the end of the year, saying America can no longer afford the costs of a system dominated by profit-driven insurance and healthcare companies which leaves 46 million people uninsured. Though he is leaving the details to Congress, Obama has said reform must ensure a public health insurance option operating alongside private plans, a reduction in basic costs, and assurance that no one is denied insurance. "This is why we elected him," said Sarah Starnes, a hospital social worker who has volunteered to help campaign for the Obama plan in Missouri. "It used to be that we'd elect a president and then the lobbyists would determine what happened. This time it is going to be us who determine what happens."
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