In Maryland, Obama Rallies Supporters on Health Care

President Barack Obama preached to the choir on health care reform Thursday, addressing a cheering crowd just off the University of Maryland campus in College Park.

Calling health care reform an issue of "what kind of country we want to be," the president promised to push forward, saying, "I may not be the first president to take up the cause of health care reform, I am determined to be the last."

But some supporters were rankled because the health care reform bill released Wednesday by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana did not include a public option.


"I was really disappointed with what Baucus came up with -- it might even be a step backwards," said V.K. Holtzendorf of Maryland. "I'm a small business owner. I'd love to be able to provide (health care) for my employees. But it's out of reach."

A public option, as broadly defined in an August survey by Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates, is "creating a government-funded insurance company that competes with existing private insurers to offer health coverage at market rates."

Karen Tinker of Virginia had volunteered with the Obama campaign in 2008. Though pending health care legislation concerns her, she hopes there is still room for negotiation. "I trust the president," she said. "He's not going to pass something that won't make a difference." She paused. "I'd still like to see a public option, though."

Edward Kimmel was almost hidden behind a large "Public Option Now!" sign. When he carried the sign through Saturday's Tea Party protest at the Capitol, he described the reactions he got as "screaming, spitting and people so mad they couldn't see straight." The reaction from the crowd on Thursday -- protesters were largely absent -- was the opposite, with many people stopping to tell Kimmel they agreed with him or to snap photos next to his sign.

Asked if he would support a bill that didn't include a public option, Kimmel called such a provision essential "from both a moral and a budgetary standpoint." But, he added, if the president were to back a bill that did not include a public option, he would support it. "The president wants the same things as us," said Kimmel. "If, with all he knows, he says this is the best we can do, then -- well, first I may cry a little -- but I'll still support him."