“We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it”- President Barack Obama

The President gave this quote at the end of his joint address to Congress on health care last night. He was referring to the apprehension by some to move forward with a bold health care plan and maybe to the opponents who have been reverting to the usual fear-mongering in an attempt to block reform. Well, Obama made it clear last night that he is not backing down.

“I am not the first President to take up [health care], but I am determined to be the last.” – President Obama

Americans around the country tuned in to watch the joint address last night (while some childish members of Congress did their best to tune out).  It was a long awaited speech, not just for reform supporters this year, but for health care reform advocates that have been fighting for decades to fix our broken health care system.

Last night we saw the President step firmly into the health care debate and bring clarity to the madness that has begun to encircle health care discussions.

Obama clearly discussed what his health care plan means for Americans:

• Security and stability for the insured
• Choice of quality, affordable coverage for the uninsured
• Choice and competition in an insurance exchange, including a government-run public plan option
• Lowering costs with subsidies to low-income Americans and tax credits to small businesses

Obama also firmly stated that “he will not sign a plan that adds one dime to the deficit.”

In a letter delivered posthumously from Senator Ted Kennedy, a life-long health care advocate, he wrote “You will be the President who at long last signs into law the health care reform that is the great unfinished business of our society.”

The President not only outlined his solid plan for health care reform, but he aggressively set the record straight on the lies and misleading information being spread by reform opponents. The childish antics of those opponents were proven once again during his address, as Rep. Wilson(R-SC) yelled out “You Lie!” while Obama spoke of the false information circling the issue of immigrants gaining coverage under reform. Other members behaved as if they were in a 5th grade classroom and held up signs, heckled and booed, and waved around copies of the health care bill…Speaker Pelosi looked as if she were about to jump over the podium and ream someone out.

Rep. Gohmert (R- TX) acting childish during the President's address

However, we didn’t hear any mention of young people in Obama’s speech (at least not in a positive light!), heard nothing about addressing racial and ethnic health disparities, and unfortunately directly after he (thankfully) mentioned the demand for a public option, he slightly back stepped saying it could be in the form of co-ops or only implemented in certain markets. That’s not going to be good enough.

But overall, Obama kicked ass and probably gave the best joint address to Congress we’ve seen in a while.

It was quite the way to kick off Congress being back in session. Members have already delved right back into work, with word from the Senate Finance Committee today that the Chairman’s mark on their reform bill was released. Unfortunately, the bill does not look so great and will still have no GOP support even though Baucus has  been bending over backwards to work with Sen. Grassley, the ranking Republican on the committee, to gain support.

These next couple months may be tough, but as Obama indicated, we’re not scared – we’re ready to shape things up. It’s time to pass health care reform and change the future for our generation. Let’s get to work.