One Choice: Obama

(NOTE: This is the first on-scene report from a One Choice: Barack Obama blog reader. If you have seen the candidate live and would like to write about your experience, or would like to add your opinions or links to our mix, send it in an e-mail to One4Obama@gmail.com.)

By Virginia Hope  

     I saw Barack Obama speak in Newport News, Virginia on Saturday. Okay, let me get over my rock star crush moments first. We waited in line for two hours, heard some bad and not-so-bad warm up acts, and he finally came on the stage at one. OMG!!! He’s so good looking! Such presence! Funny! Entertaining! And I bet he can totally tear it up on the dance floor! OK – rock star crush is now in check.  
     Obama gave a speech I was not expecting. The chants of “Yes We Can,” though energetic and proud, were a little forced. Because he wasn’t really interested in inflating his ego; he was there to talk policy, specifically health care. He began with a story that touched me on a personal note. He spoke of his mother dying of cancer. He spoke about how, rather than focusing on getting better and taking comfort in the presence of family and friends, she was fighting with the people at the insurance company who didn’t want to pay her medical bills because they claimed that cancer was a pre-existing condition. Having lost my own mother to cancer two years ago, I realized that, despite everything, we were lucky. Losing my mother was the hardest experience of my life, and I can’t imagine if mom, dad, or any of us kids also had to deal with the stress of paying for her care. As Obama said himself, “This isn’t politics, this is personal.”
     He spent about half the time criticizing McCain’s proposed health care plan, respectfully and honestly. McCain and Palin are quick to mention the $5,000 health care credit, per family, but fail to emphasize that their administration plans to tax health care for the first time in history. We’d never see that $5,000 (which would go straight back to the insurance company), and we’d be taxed on our healthcare benefits as salary, so we’d end up losing more than that tax credit. McCain and Palin are all about de-regulating the health insurance industry and letting the free market take care of it. Well, we see how well that worked on Wall Street.
     Obama got specific about his own plan.  He’d negotiate with insurance and pharmaceutical companies, driving down the price of prescription drugs and the availability of cheaper generics. He’d require hospitals to switch over to computer-based record keeping, instead of relying on pen and paper, thereby saving money and lives. He’d reduce premium costs for those that have health insurance, and he’d make sure that those who don’t have it can afford to get it. And he’d pay for it (beyond the savings of bringing health care record-keeping into the 21st century), by repealing Bush’s tax cuts for people making over $250,000 a year.  He closed with the story of a sixteen-year-old boy named Devon with a heart ailment, whose mother can’t afford to pay for the treatment he needs (and their insurance company won’t pay, again claiming “pre-existing condition”). As a result, Devon can’t participate in any physical activity.  Can you imagine being a sixteen-year-old who can’t be active?  Devon’s mother sent Barack an email that urged him to keep going when it’s tough – for Devon. That story moved me to tears. And made me more committed to do what I can to get Barack Obama elected.    
     Being at the speech, I felt like I was floating in a sea of unity. We all want a better America, and in that time, and in that place, I felt that we had the power to make it happen. And the leader to guide us. As the country has become increasingly polarized, I hope that Barack’s message will reach as many as possible. He knows that we may disagree on some important issues, but he also knows that there are many more ways in which we agree.  We can work together to make this country great again. We can do it. Yes we can.