Obama on Health Care: A Civil Town Hall in New Hampshire

OK, so it was more of a pro-President Obama rally than an actual "town hall" meeting, but it was a start. Perhaps now we can get back to discussing the actual merits (and possible flaws) of the legislation that would revamp much of the nation's health care delivery system instead of watching helplessly as Democrats and Republicans shout down each other, calling their opponents Nazis and what-not.

Speaking to a crowd comprised mostly of doting Democrats with a few skeptical Republicans and worried senior citizens sprinkled into the mix, Barack Obama showed why debate is not something he or other Democrats should shy away from. Tough questions were asked and, after a fashion, answered. This was democracy at work Tuesday at Portsmouth High School in that seaside New Hampshire city.

Outside the school, the street theater was considerably more raw: There were bullhorns and shout-fests and placards – plenty of them – some funny, some scary, but all of them constitutional and very much in the spirit of Yankee skepticism that has been the rule in New Hampshire, where the official state motto is "Live Free or Die."

Not to be overly flip, but after today, I'm tempted to propose a new motto, "Speak Succinctly or Die," except that with all the threats being leveled at politicians these days, that quip might be misunderstood. Anyway, it's not the speaker who'd be likely to keel over from boredom; rather, it might be his listeners. But I digress.

At the beginning – in the rally portion of the event -- Obama thanked everybody for coming, gave a verbal shout-out to each and every Democratic Party official on the scene, and basked in the crowd's adoration. "We love you!" someone hollered, and the president replied, "I love you back." Then, before taking questions, Obama droned on for some 2,500 words. This was the opening recitation of the White House talking points we have heard so many times before.

Then, just in time, Obama went to the audience. The prez took nine questions in all (although if his answers were more concise he could have taken twice that many), starting with a local Democratic official who prefaced his query with a talking point about the "wonderful government-run health care plan called Medicare." The pol's question was why, since Republicans seemed reluctant to be "reasonable," Democrats in Congress shouldn't just pass the bill themselves and get it on the president's desk.

The real answer to this question comprises two parts: First, the practical part of the answer is that Democrats on Capitol Hill aren't unanimous, and White House strategists believe they may need a few Republican votes. Second, and more big-picture, Obama is on record as saying that he doesn't think revamping the nation's health care delivery system is something that ought to be done as a partisan exercise. And so Obama answered this question by singling out three Republican senators (Iowa's Chuck Grassley, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, and Olympia Snowe of neighboring Maine) as being quite reasonable. In so doing, Obama came off as reasonable himself.

The second question was asked by a girl too young to vote who wondered aloud about the "mean" signs she saw on the street outside the school. "How do kids know what is true?" she wanted to know.

That's a good question, and Obama used it to address the "rumor" that the House version of the bill contemplates end-of-life consultations and decisions that will turn into health care rationing and even "death panels." The president did not single out a certain former Alaska governor here. He just said – rather tepidly, I thought – "I am not in favor of that."

The third question was from a fellow on Medicaid, who had to go through bureaucratic hoops to get his Lipitor, which the president used as a segue to discuss the need for generic medicines to save money.

And so it went. Obama broke no new ground, but he more than held his own. He denied in response to a question from a Republican – and both the question and answer were offered up with civility and grace – that his health care plan is really a stalking horse for a single-payer system. He also flatly promised that Medicare benefits would not be cut, made the dubious claim that no one would ever wait in a line for medical care under his plan, championed a mental health component to his "public option," offered the opinion that the U.S. taxpayer can get more health care per dollar than now through government-imposed efficiencies, and denied that his administration's call for citizens to forward anti-Obama health care e-mails to the White House constituted "an enemies list."

All in all, the man made his case. His best response came in an answer to his last questioner, who wanted to know why members of Congress have a gold-plated, affordable plan while so many Americans have no coverage at all. The answer, the president said, was that the federal government has a lot of clout in negotiating with insurers – because of its size.

"So you've got millions of people who are part of the pool, which means they've got enormous leverage with the insurance companies, right? So they can negotiate the same way that a big Fortune 500 company can negotiate, and that drives down their costs -- they get a better deal," Obama said.

Then he added, "There are legitimate concerns about the public option -- the gentleman who raised his hand . . . I think it's a good idea, but I understand some people just philosophically think that if you set up a public option, that that will drive public insurance out -- or private insurers out. I think that's a legitimate concern. I disagree with it, but that's a legitimate debate to have."

So, yes, let's have that debate – and quit calling each other names.