Last fall during his campaign, Barack Obama told the American people again and again that he was running for office because of the “fierce urgency of now.” A wide array of deeply rooted problems plagued this nation and, if left unaddressed, promised only to grow and worsen. Over a year later, that urgency has not faded. Fortunately, neither has the President’s resolve to confront them.
In the wake of worsening poll numbers and Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown’s election to the Senate, Obama faced rampant speculation calling for him to back down on health care, climate and other tough issues. But instead of succumbing to the political winds of the moment, President Obama used the State of the Union address to strengthen his call to pass key legislation while reassuring Americans that every possible measure will be taken to combat unemployment and restore a healthy economy.
The Editorial Board applauds the President for valuing his principles over political expediency and disputes the popular notion that the American people are out of step with the substance of his policies.
Obama’s emphasis on job growth–clearly the centerpiece of his speech–touched all parts of the political spectrum, from correctly pointing out that the stimulus bill saved the jobs of thousands of teachers and firefighters to embracing the Republican proposal to eliminate the capital gains tax. His call to use windfall taxes on Wall Street banks to help community banks combined good politics with good economics. If there were any problems here, they were only in building expectations for an area over which the government has only so much short-term power.
Obama then used the jobs-bill as a springboard to discuss climate policy, making the salient point China and Germany are “making serious investments in clean energy because they want those jobs” and that, as the Editorial Board has pointed out before, “the nation that leads the clean-energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy.” But even in his emphasis on economic benefits, Obama assailed critics head-on, citing the “overwhelming scientific evidence” for climate change.
On health care, too, Obama pushed forward with force, exhorting Congress not to walk away from reform, “not now, not when we are so close.” Indeed, this administration, in the face of a firestorm of opposition and misinformation, has brought this historic legislation closer than ever before. Bill Clinton did not even get his health bill out of its congressional committee.
Which brings us to our larger point: President Obama should push for this bill because it holds reform that Americans do want. While polls show the public opposed to the demonized caricature the bill has become, further analysis shows the popularity of its provisions. A 2007 Gallup poll, taken before the controversy, showed 76 percent of Americans supporting subsidies for low-income families to buy insurance. In a more recent Wall Street Journal poll, 89 percent support requiring coverage of those with pre-existing conditions, with 63 percent calling it an absolute must.
And those who view Scott Brown’s election as a rebuke of Obama’s plan are flat out wrong. Sixty-eight percent of voters in Brown’s election support the Massachusetts health plan, which closely resembles the Obama plan. If anything, they just do not care to pay for a national plan to extend coverage when 98 percent of Massachusetts citizens already have it. Brown won because he ran a great campaign and because his state did not want to bear extra costs for benefits they already receive. Not because Massachusetts citizens oppose Obama’s model of reform.
Similarly, in last month’s Washington Post/ABC News poll, 60 percent of Americans said they would support curbing greenhouse gases even if it cost them $10 per month in electricity bills, and 55 percent would even pay $25 per month. In key swing states, including coal regions such as Pennsylvania and West Virginia, 60 percent of voters said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supported the climate bill.
If these numbers do not sway reluctant senators, we hope President Obama’s words will when he called on Congress to resist the temptation to “do what’s necessary to keep our poll numbers high and get through the next election instead of doing what’s best for the next generation.”
The American people elected their officials to govern, not to run a perpetual political campaign. Getting re-elected does not matter if you are not accomplishing anything in the first place. President Obama just proved his willingness to stare political problems down in the pursuit of progress. It is time for Congress to follow his lead.