Obama's Opportunity to Reclaim the Debate

By KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL
Barack Obama's genius was to run a campaign that understood how much Americans wanted change. On Wednesday evening when he speaks to a joint session of Congress President Obama will need to reclaim that genius. And he will need to reclaim the debate from those who would deny the urgency of real healthcare reform for the millions insured, underinsured and uninsured.
Obama will be most persuasive if he speaks with passion about his principles and priorities--and draws some lines in the sand. A key line is support of a strong public option--not as a liberal litmus test but as a critical part of expanding coverage, reining in costs and disciplining rapacious insurance companies. He must explain in clear and simple language that the alternative--a "trigger"--is a trap to kill healthcare reform; and that even if "trigger" conditions are met years from now, big insurance companies will start the fight all over again to stop the public option from going into effect. And by any reasonable measure conditions for triggering a public plan have already been met because insurance companies have failed to rein in costs and expand coverage! As for those ballyhooed nonprofit coops, Obama should explain why they won't have any real bargaining leverage to get lower prices because they'll be too small. Define the public plan for what it is: pragmatic, principled and all-American in how it privileges choice and competition. Rest of article here.