Obama’s response was pretty simple: “What’s the point of amassing political capital if you aren’t willing to use it to help people?” He pointed out to us that if he didn’t try to pass a law to give access to health care to the uninsured on the heels of a landslide election win with huge majorities in Congress, then it would never get done. “If not now, when?” Obama asked. There was only one answer to that question. We knew from the failed efforts that came before that health care policy was uniquely susceptible to demagoguery. Fear of the unknown greatly exceeded the public’s concerns about
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