Archive for July, 2009:
The Biggest Untold Story in Politics
From OFA Deptuy Director Jeremy Bird:
The opponents of change are making news right now, doing everything they can to delay and defeat health insurance reform. They think we'll tire and stop fighting, because they've outspent and outlasted every previous attempt.
But here's the biggest untold story in politics: The movement you're building -- the events, phone banks, door-to-door canvasses, and town hall meetings you're organizing around the country -- is the reason they can't stop change this time around.
In just three short months, more than 1 million people have taken part in our campaign for health insurance reform. But the images and stories behind that number are even more amazing. So we put together a quick video of what's happening around the country. Watch the video.
And here are five highlights that I wanted to share:
• The newspaper in Exeter, NH is reporting that local supporters are canvassing everywhere to build support for reform: door-to-door, at farmers' markets, and at state fairs. The article quotes volunteer Dave Munsey as saying that 2008 "was probably the most important election of my lifetime. This is just an extension of that."
• Supporters in Florida held simultaneous press conferences outside of nine local Senate offices with doctors, small-business owners, and others, all telling their personal health care stories about why reform is so important to them.
• After a huge event in Wisconsin, hundreds of the participants headed to a nearby town hall event hosted by Republican Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner to share their stories and urge him to stand with voters in support of reform.
•A host in Minnesota organized a barbeque for supporters to hear from speakers and write letters to their members of Congress. 1200 people joined in!
• Volunteer community organizers have participated in trainings in more than 13 states -- and 17 more are scheduled for the upcoming weeks.
• There's a lot more work to do to pass real health insurance reform -- especially in August, when members of Congress will be in their home states on recess, gauging public opinion before heading back to D.C. for the big votes in the fall.
We're going to need to work together every step of the way to cut through the distortions, get out the facts, and bring the voices of real people into the debate.
But for right now, I just want to thank you for all you're already doing. You are the reason we're going to win.
Jeremy
Jeremy Bird
Deputy Director
Organizing for America
The Biggest Untold Story in Politics
From OFA Deputy Director Jeremy Bird:
The opponents of change are making news right now, doing everything they can to delay and defeat health insurance reform. They think we'll tire and stop fighting, because they've outspent and outlasted every previous attempt.
But here's the biggest untold story in politics: The movement you're building -- the events, phone banks, door-to-door canvasses, and town hall meetings you're organizing around the country -- is the reason they can't stop change this time around.
In just three short months, more than 1 million people have taken part in our campaign for health insurance reform. But the images and stories behind that number are even more amazing. So we put together a quick video of what's happening around the country. Watch the video.
And here are five highlights that I wanted to share:
• The newspaper in Exeter, NH is reporting that local supporters are canvassing everywhere to build support for reform: door-to-door, at farmers' markets, and at state fairs. The article quotes volunteer Dave Munsey as saying that 2008 "was probably the most important election of my lifetime. This is just an extension of that."
• Supporters in Florida held simultaneous press conferences outside of nine local Senate offices with doctors, small-business owners, and others, all telling their personal health care stories about why reform is so important to them.
• After a huge event in Wisconsin, hundreds of the participants headed to a nearby town hall event hosted by Republican Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner to share their stories and urge him to stand with voters in support of reform.
•A host in Minnesota organized a barbeque for supporters to hear from speakers and write letters to their members of Congress. 1200 people joined in!
• Volunteer community organizers have participated in trainings in more than 13 states -- and 17 more are scheduled for the upcoming weeks.
• There's a lot more work to do to pass real health insurance reform -- especially in August, when members of Congress will be in their home states on recess, gauging public opinion before heading back to D.C. for the big votes in the fall.
We're going to need to work together every step of the way to cut through the distortions, get out the facts, and bring the voices of real people into the debate.
But for right now, I just want to thank you for all you're already doing. You are the reason we're going to win.
Jeremy
Jeremy Bird
Deputy Director
Organizing for America
Video: The President’s Health Reform Town Hall in North Carolina
Open for Questions: Three Conversations on Health Insurance Reform Today
President Obama will be holding two town hall meetings on health insurance reform today, and the Council of Economic Advisors Chair Christina Romer will be answering questions on small business and health care as well.
The President's first stop is Broughton High School, in Raleigh, North Carolina. The event is scheduled to begin at 11:55 AM Eastern.
At 3:00 PM Eastern, Christina Romer will take part in a live video chat to answer questions from small business owners.
Finally, at 4:15 PM Eastern President Obama will host a town hall in Bristol, Virginia.
All three events today will be carried live here on BarackObama.com.
Open for Questions: Three Conversations on Health Insurance Reform Today
President Obama will be holding two town hall meetings on health insurance reform today, and the Council of Economic Advisors Chair Christina Romer will be answering questions on small business and health care as well.
The President's first stop is Broughton High School, in Raleigh, North Carolina. The event is scheduled to begin at 11:55 AM Eastern.
At 3:00 PM Eastern, Christina Romer will take part in a live video chat to answer questions from small business owners.
Finally, at 4:15 PM Eastern President Obama will host a town hall in Bristol, Virginia.
All three events today will be carried live here on BarackObama.com.
Weigh In on Small Businesses and Health Reform
Earlier today, OFA Director Mitch Stewart sent out a special invitation to small businesss owners:
The White House Council of Economic Advisers recently published an important report about the effect of health insurance reform on small businesses. As a small business owner yourself, we wanted to make sure you saw the report and let you know how you can tell the White House what health care issues concern you most.
Christina Romer, the chair of the Council, is asking for your feedback. Then she'll respond to the issues you've raised in a live video chat tomorrow, Wednesday, July 29th, at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
As a small business owner, your input is absolutely crucial in the reform debate, so please take the time to weigh in now.
Please check out the new report, and then tell Dr. Romer what you think the most important issues are for small businesses when it comes to health care.
Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, accounting for a quarter of all job growth in the last 15 years. We need health insurance reform to reduce the current burden on small firms and their workers, which have too often been forced to choose between covering employees and keeping their doors open.
Follow the link below to let Dr. Romer know what's most important to you in the health insurance reform debate, and find out how to tune in for her video chat tomorrow:
http://my.barackobama.com/RomerLinkedin
Thanks,
Mitch
Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America
Listen LIVE: President Obama to Participate in AARP Tele-Town Hall on Health Insurance Reform
This afternoon starting at 1:30 PM Eastern, President Obama will participate in a tele-town hall at AARP headquarters. The President will take questions from AARP members in the audience and over the telephone and discuss the importance of health insurance reform. You can listen to a live audio feed below.
UPDATE: Today's event has concluded.
A Special Thank You from the President
On Thursday, Sarah O. of Westerville, Ohio, went to Chicago to meet President Obama. Sarah is one of the hundreds of thousands of volunteers organizing for health insurance reform, and last week she was selected to meet the President in Chicago so that he could personally thank her for her work.
Photo by Steve Kagan
Sarah, a former college and high school journalism teacher and lifelong Ohio resident, volunteered to help elect President Obama last year. She shared a bit about her night in Chicago and why she’s working to make sure we pass health insurance reform now:
I'm Sarah, from Westerville, Ohio, and I just got back from the trip of a lifetime -- meeting President Obama in Chicago.
It was an amazing night. After writing an essay about why I support health care reform, I was fortunate enough to be selected for a trip to Chicago, where President Obama thanked me for my work. But he also thanked all of you. He thanked us for knocking on doors, making phone calls, telling our health care stories, and digging deep to donate and make this all happen. Thanks to our work, we’re closer than we’ve ever been to making health insurance reform a reality.
We all have incredibly personal reasons for fighting for health care reform, and this is mine: While I’ve had health insurance all of my life, others in my family haven’t been so lucky. My husband lost his job last fall along with thousands of other Americans, and his employer-paid health insurance went with it. Because he’d had a carcinoma removed a year earlier, when he tried to find private health insurance he was told if he were to develop more cancer in the future, it would not be covered. Fortunately, he now has a new job, but it pays less than half of what he was earning in his previous position and doesn't provide health care insurance to new hires.
Wherever I go, everyone I meet has a health care story like mine about a family member, friend, or colleague. This is why we need reform, and this is why we need it right now, this year.
The reason I volunteered in my small town to help elect President Obama was his message of hope. I am fighting for health care reform today as an extension of that hope. We did it before, so we can do it again -- and turn the change we worked so hard for last fall into real improvements in the lives of millions of Americans.
We've come too far to stop now.
Sarah O.
To all of you who have walked, called, worked and organized to make health insurance reform a reality over the past months, thank you. As the President explained, your work has brought us closer to real reform than we as a country have ever been -- but there's still much work left to do.