Health Care Reform Comes One Step Closer

In a close vote, the House of Representatives passed a landmark health care bill, bringing the United States one step closer to health care reform and coverage for a majority of Americans:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33748707/ns/politics-health_care_reform

It didn't seem possible just this summer with all those volatile town hall meetings and people decrying any sort of reform.  But wait a few months later and something that naysayers never thought would happen is in fact happening:  People are starting to accept the idea of reform.

I, at least, give much of the credit to Barack Obama.  Much credit goes to the man who didn't break, who didn't flinch, who didn't argue when it seemed that the whole country opposed his efforts.  Instead of attacking his critics and telling everyone it was "his way or the highway," Obama responded by going in front of the American people and telling us what health care reform was all about, why we so desperately needed it, and most of all, he showed us that the reason he wanted it was because he cared about us as people and he was willing to compromise in order to bring it to us.  He persisted, patiently, perhaps knowing that people need time to accept change.  And that's exactly what happened.  After a few months, the violence of the town hall meetings subsided, more people came over to accept the controversial public option, and health care reform - about 60 years in the making - is one step closer to happening.  He did it.

I love Obama because he is a prime example of how believing in something (even something it seems that everyone else deems near impossible to accomplish - hello Mr. President!) and working toward that goal diligently, patiently, and persistently brings you to the satisfying culmination of attaining it!  All the principles of my success books come true in Obama and it is a treat to see.  It is a treat to see whenever anyone makes you believe it's possible!

Earlier Saturday (before the bill passed), I was telling my friend how it's so annoying how people, SNL for example, and even John Stewart, were turning on Obama and ridiculing him for not accomplishing anything yet.  I was telling her it was because of Americans' need to have results right away; immediately; NOW!; because everything in our culture has become so quick, we don't know patience anymore.  But that's not how progress happens.  And I was telling my friend how annoying it is that they were decrying Obama taking on so many projects at once, and not accomplishing anything.  Jon Stewart derided him for this, saying, like other critics, that Obama should have taken on fewer projects and accomplished one of them.  My take on it was that he took on so many things at once not so that he could fix them all right away, but so that they could get started working on the solutions right away.  Figuring the solutions would take time but if you start on it early (like my teachers used to tell me), it's more likely to come to you.  I could imagine Obama's smart enough to think like that.  It disheartens me that others seemingly don't.

It's so funny (in the strange, sad sense) how people can turn on you so instantly.  They start seeing everything wrong with you when they used to love you.  My friend said that she believes in having a healthy dose of skepticism because "you know what they say about absolute power."  Yes, absolute power corrupts absolutely.  I'm not saying that it would be a good thing if everyone was so totally in love with Obama they couldn't see his faults or point them out.  And maybe it's a good thing that people oppose him because it keeps him in check so his head doesn't get to be too big and he thinks he can do anything he wants.  The challenge might even serve to strengthen his resolve.  What gets to me is that people are so quick to write him off.  And it's especially harsh because it is the people that were on his side.  But then I have to consider that maybe they just needed something to make fun of him for because there's so little, and attacking him gives them better ratings.  But whatever the reason, it worries me that some people will take SNL seriously and start believing that caricature of him that hasn't accomplished anything instead of seeing the real situation and person.

I guess he'll just have to prove them wrong.

I was telling my friend how when people started turning on Obama, it made me think of this part in Harry Potter that I hadn't bought into before.  It was the part in one of the later books when Harry starts telling everyone that Voldemort is alive.  No one wants to believe him.  They actually turn against him for saying it even though he was their hero.  He was the "boy who lived," the one who had vanquished "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."  But none of that mattered.  As soon as he said something they didn't like, something they feared, they turned on him.  Reading that part, it didn't ring true to me.  But now that I see how the world and people can be, I see how perceptive J.K. Rowling really is about them.

This has been my long and windy way of saying, "Have a little faith in people."  Progress comes if you believe.