REACTION:HAVING SUFFERED more than a month of raucous town hall events in which protesters railed against any kind of healthcare reform, US president Barack Obama on Wednesday night got a taste of town hall himself – only this time it was Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill who were doing the heckling.
Given that he was delivering a relatively centrist address to Congress based around a plea for co-operation and civility, Mr Obama could not have scripted a better response himself.
Perhaps the best measure of how much damage Republicans did to their standing came with the public’s reaction to Joe Wilson, the Republican lawmaker from South Carolina, who shouted out: “You lie!” after Mr Obama had dismissed as “bogus” the claim that his reforms would give free healthcare to illegal immigrants.
Before the night was over, Mr Wilson’s Democratic challenger, Rob Miller, had raised $55,000 (€37,700) from voters – which rose to $137,379 by 10.30am on Thursday, according to the Washington Times. “Defeat the man who yelled ‘liar’ at Obama: goodbye Rep Joe Wilson,” said fundraisers for Mr Miller.
Supporters of Mr Obama will be hoping that the incident, which was condemned by Republican leaders, will sway sceptical voters back in favour of reform. That may prove true in the short term. But the battle for passage of Mr Obama’s 10-year, $900 billion proposal is likely to take weeks, and probably months.
“If a vote was held tomorrow then I have little doubt the Republican behaviour will have swayed a lot of people,” said Robert Blendon, a professor of health policy at Harvard.
“But a month from now everyone will have forgotten it. The real question is whether the president has reassured those who are worried about the rising budget deficit and whether their own taxes will rise in order to pay for healthcare reform.”
Mr Obama’s speech, which some pundits were yesterday hailing as his best since taking office, certainly put the passion back into the case for reform. Critics of Mr Obama had accused him of focusing too much on the details and too little on the bigger economic and moral case.
Mr Obama answered those critics on Wednesday. “I am not the first president to take up this cause,” said Mr Obama, “but I am determined to be the last.”
He also answered those who doubted whether he would have the spine to stick to the fight.
David Gergen, a former adviser to several presidents including Bill Clinton, said: “This was the Obama that the millions of people who voted for him have been wanting to see. He was inspiring, he was articulate and he made it clear he was prepared to fight this one right down to the last.”
The real test, though, will come in the response of “moderate” Democratic senators, such as Ben Nelson from Nebraska, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Kent Conrad of South Dakota, who are closest to those voters still anxious about the fiscal impact of Mr Obama’s plan.
Few believe any Republicans, barring the so-called “ladies from Maine”, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, will drop their opposition. The voting intentions of the Democratic fiscal conservatives are likely to prove the final arbiter of Mr Obama’s proposals.
“If you believe, as I do, that Mr Obama’s targets were moderate Democrats and anxious voters, then this speech did him some good,” said Bill Galston, a former official in the Clinton administration. “But he still needs to do more to reassure seniors and those who already have healthcare plans which they like that he is not going to bust the budget to pay for these reforms.”
Mr Blendon, a leading analyst of public opinion on healthcare, predicts Mr Obama’s speech will move opinion sharply in his direction over the next few days. But he adds that Mr Clinton, who gave a widely praised address to Congress in September 1993, a year before his healthcare bill was shot to pieces, also got a big fillip.
“Clinton got a 15-point boost from his address to Congress,” said Mr Blendon. “A month later it had entirely vanished.”
Tomorrow, Mr Obama will travel to Minneapolis for a big campaign-style event in favour of healthcare reform. Mr Obama will need to give many more speeches – and possibly addresses to the nation – if he is to avoid Mr Clinton’s fate. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009)