President Obama addressed both chambers of Congress in a highly anticipated policy speech on health care Wednesday. In it, he laid out the framework for his plan to reform the health insurance and delivery system in America, in a way that would cut costs and provide coverage for any American who wants it—with a price tag of $900 billion over ten years. Reading a letter sent to him by the late senator Ted Kennedy, Obama made a forceful moral case for why health care must happen this year: "At stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country," he said. Appealing to the sense of leadership that once motivated each of the members of Congress to run for office, he said: "We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it."
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He also made a rational case for those worried about a future plan's price tag: "Our health care problem is our deficit problem," he argued, also comparing the cost of reform to the expensive and deadly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Going into the speech, 24 percent of the country said they "didn't know" if they would support reform. Did Obama change any minds?
—DAYO OLOPADE
Covers the White House and Washington for The Root. Follow her on Twitter.
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