O Presidente Obama resolveu pegar o toro à unha e ontem fez um discurso diante do Congresso dos EUA para defender sua proposta de reforma do sistema e saúde do país.
Os republicanos estavam atirando pesado contra a proposta, chamando-a até de socialista, e muitos democratas conservadores estavam com receio de apoiá-la para não contrariar seus eleitores liberais.
Como a discussão estava patinando perigosamente, Obama resolveu dar a cara a bater dentro do próprio Congresso. Em um trecho de seu discurso, ele citou uma carta que lhe foi enviada pelo falecido senador Ted Kennedy, o grande defensor da reforma do sistema de saúde no Senado norte-americano, e que era respeitado pelos dois partidos.
O trecho:
"I received one of those letters a few days ago. It was from our beloved friend and colleague, Ted Kennedy. He had written it back in May, shortly after he was told that his illness was terminal. He asked that it be delivered upon his death.
In it, he spoke about what a happy time his last months were, thanks to the love and support of family and friends, his wife, Vicki, his amazing children, who are all here tonight. And he expressed confidence that this would be the year that health care reform -- "that great unfinished business of our society," he called it -- would finally pass. He repeated the truth that health care is decisive for our future prosperity, but he also reminded me that "it concerns more than material things." "What we face," he wrote, "is above all a moral issue; at stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country."
I've thought about that phrase quite a bit in recent days -- the character of our country. One of the unique and wonderful things about America has always been our self-reliance, our rugged individualism, our fierce defense of freedom and our healthy skepticism of government. And figuring out the appropriate size and role of government has always been a source of rigorous and, yes, sometimes angry debate. That's our history.
For some of Ted Kennedy's critics, his brand of liberalism represented an affront to American liberty. In their minds, his passion for universal health care was nothing more than a passion for big government.
But those of us who knew Teddy and worked with him here -- people of both parties -- know that what drove him was something more. His friend Orrin Hatch -- he knows that. They worked together to provide children with health insurance. His friend John McCain knows that. They worked together on a Patient's Bill of Rights. His friend Chuck Grassley knows that. They worked together to provide health care to children with disabilities.
On issues like these, Ted Kennedy's passion was born not of some rigid ideology, but of his own experience. It was the experience of having two children stricken with cancer. He never forgot the sheer terror and helplessness that any parent feels when a child is badly sick. And he was able to imagine what it must be like for those without insurance, what it would be like to have to say to a wife or a child or an aging parent, there is something that could make you better, but I just can't afford it".
Acesse aqui trechos do discurso de Obama em que ele cita Kennedy e exorta os congressistas a encarar a votação da reforma do sistema de saúde como um momento daqueles em que os EUA se afirmam como uma grande Nação.
Os republicanos estavam atirando pesado contra a proposta, chamando-a até de socialista, e muitos democratas conservadores estavam com receio de apoiá-la para não contrariar seus eleitores liberais.
Como a discussão estava patinando perigosamente, Obama resolveu dar a cara a bater dentro do próprio Congresso. Em um trecho de seu discurso, ele citou uma carta que lhe foi enviada pelo falecido senador Ted Kennedy, o grande defensor da reforma do sistema de saúde no Senado norte-americano, e que era respeitado pelos dois partidos.
O trecho:
"I received one of those letters a few days ago. It was from our beloved friend and colleague, Ted Kennedy. He had written it back in May, shortly after he was told that his illness was terminal. He asked that it be delivered upon his death.
In it, he spoke about what a happy time his last months were, thanks to the love and support of family and friends, his wife, Vicki, his amazing children, who are all here tonight. And he expressed confidence that this would be the year that health care reform -- "that great unfinished business of our society," he called it -- would finally pass. He repeated the truth that health care is decisive for our future prosperity, but he also reminded me that "it concerns more than material things." "What we face," he wrote, "is above all a moral issue; at stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country."
I've thought about that phrase quite a bit in recent days -- the character of our country. One of the unique and wonderful things about America has always been our self-reliance, our rugged individualism, our fierce defense of freedom and our healthy skepticism of government. And figuring out the appropriate size and role of government has always been a source of rigorous and, yes, sometimes angry debate. That's our history.
For some of Ted Kennedy's critics, his brand of liberalism represented an affront to American liberty. In their minds, his passion for universal health care was nothing more than a passion for big government.
But those of us who knew Teddy and worked with him here -- people of both parties -- know that what drove him was something more. His friend Orrin Hatch -- he knows that. They worked together to provide children with health insurance. His friend John McCain knows that. They worked together on a Patient's Bill of Rights. His friend Chuck Grassley knows that. They worked together to provide health care to children with disabilities.
On issues like these, Ted Kennedy's passion was born not of some rigid ideology, but of his own experience. It was the experience of having two children stricken with cancer. He never forgot the sheer terror and helplessness that any parent feels when a child is badly sick. And he was able to imagine what it must be like for those without insurance, what it would be like to have to say to a wife or a child or an aging parent, there is something that could make you better, but I just can't afford it".
Acesse aqui trechos do discurso de Obama em que ele cita Kennedy e exorta os congressistas a encarar a votação da reforma do sistema de saúde como um momento daqueles em que os EUA se afirmam como uma grande Nação.
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