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osodecanelaI went to Sacramento this week for continuing professional education. I'm required to do 25 hours a year; I try to do double that. I had 12 hours of lectures spread out over Wednesday and Thursday, however late-night childbirth always has and always will take precedence. After little Azul was born at three in the morning, I went home to catch some z's. Needless to say, when the lecture started at 8 AM I was 125 miles away and still unconscious.
I did in fact miss everything that was lectured about on Wednesday, but I was in the car driving east when Pres. Obama delivered his address to Congress on health care reform. Finally, I am once again seeing the man who inspired me last year to spend so much time doing all I could to see that he ended up in the White House. I had grown very disillusioned in the past several months, watching all the squabbling on Capitol Hill regarding a health-care reform bill, and the White House's relative silence on the subject. This combined with the administration's tacit support of DOMA had left me fearful that the only change I can believe in, jingles in my pocket.
Call it tunnel vision if you wish, but as a health-care provider it's very difficult, if not impossible for me not to see our very broken healthcare system as the number one issue for our government to tackle. All of us are going to get sick at some point. Everyone of us will have to deal with a life-threatening illness, either our own or that of someone we care for. Will the care, or more importantly access to it, be there for us?
Wednesday night I heard the man that inspired me, that gave me hope, that made me feel that our national nightmare of the previous administration was going to come to an end and that life as we know it in this country was going to get better. It's been a while since I heard that voice. It's been a while since it last stirred my heart and left me certain that better times lay ahead. It's been a while since I dared hope that I would see significant reform in my lifetime. I think I have reason to feel hopeful again, and maybe even a little pride in being a lifelong progressive Democrat. We shall see how things evolve this fall.
I was in second grade when Teddy Kennedy became a senator. I was in medical school when he ran for president in the late 70s. I only really began to appreciate the man in the 90s, when it became clear to me how hard he was working for health-care reform. With his death this past month, I became even more disillusioned. I was so moved by the letter that Obama quoted. The White House has released the text of that letter from Ted Kennedy to the president, written last May when Kennedy realized he was not going to live long enough to see health-care reform enacted.
Posted: September 9th, 2009 09:16 PM ET
The White House has released the text of the letter from the late Sen. Ted Kennedy that President Obama referenced in his address to Congress:
May 12, 2009
Dear Mr. President,
I wanted to write a few final words to you to express my gratitude for your repeated personal kindnesses to me – and one last time, to salute your leadership in giving our country back its future and its truth.
On a personal level, you and Michelle reached out to Vicki, to our family and me in so many different ways. You helped to make these difficult months a happy time in my life. You also made it a time of hope for me and for our country. When I thought of all the years, all the battles, and all the memories of my long public life, I felt confident in these closing days that while I will not be there when it happens, you will be the President who at long last signs into law the health care reform that is the great unfinished business of our society. For me, this cause stretched across decades; it has been disappointed, but never finally defeated. It was the cause of my life. And in the past year, the prospect of victory sustained me-and the work of achieving it summoned my energy and determination.
There will be struggles – there always have been – and they are already underway again. But as we moved forward in these months, I learned that you will not yield to calls to retreat – that you will stay with the cause until it is won. I saw your conviction that the time is now and witnessed your unwavering commitment and understanding that health care is a decisive issue for our future prosperity. But you have also reminded all of us that it concerns more than material things; that what we face is above all a moral issue; that at stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country.
And so because of your vision and resolve, I came to believe that soon, very soon, affordable health coverage will be available to all, in an America where the state of a family’s health will never again depend on the amount of a family’s wealth. And while I will not see the victory, I was able to look forward and know that we will – yes, we will – fulfill the promise of health care in America as a right and not a privilege.
In closing, let me say again how proud I was to be part of your campaign- and proud as well to play a part in the early months of a new era of high purpose and achievement. I entered public life with a young President who inspired a generation and the world. It gives me great hope that as I leave, another young President inspires another generation and once more on America’s behalf inspires the entire world.
So, I wrote this to thank you one last time as a friend- and to stand with you one last time for change and the America we can become. At the Denver Convention where you were nominated, I said the dream lives on.
And I finished this letter with unshakable faith that the dream will be fulfilled for this generation, and preserved and enlarged for generations to come.
With deep respect and abiding affection,
[Ted]
I did in fact miss everything that was lectured about on Wednesday, but I was in the car driving east when Pres. Obama delivered his address to Congress on health care reform. Finally, I am once again seeing the man who inspired me last year to spend so much time doing all I could to see that he ended up in the White House. I had grown very disillusioned in the past several months, watching all the squabbling on Capitol Hill regarding a health-care reform bill, and the White House's relative silence on the subject. This combined with the administration's tacit support of DOMA had left me fearful that the only change I can believe in, jingles in my pocket.
Call it tunnel vision if you wish, but as a health-care provider it's very difficult, if not impossible for me not to see our very broken healthcare system as the number one issue for our government to tackle. All of us are going to get sick at some point. Everyone of us will have to deal with a life-threatening illness, either our own or that of someone we care for. Will the care, or more importantly access to it, be there for us?
Wednesday night I heard the man that inspired me, that gave me hope, that made me feel that our national nightmare of the previous administration was going to come to an end and that life as we know it in this country was going to get better. It's been a while since I heard that voice. It's been a while since it last stirred my heart and left me certain that better times lay ahead. It's been a while since I dared hope that I would see significant reform in my lifetime. I think I have reason to feel hopeful again, and maybe even a little pride in being a lifelong progressive Democrat. We shall see how things evolve this fall.
I was in second grade when Teddy Kennedy became a senator. I was in medical school when he ran for president in the late 70s. I only really began to appreciate the man in the 90s, when it became clear to me how hard he was working for health-care reform. With his death this past month, I became even more disillusioned. I was so moved by the letter that Obama quoted. The White House has released the text of that letter from Ted Kennedy to the president, written last May when Kennedy realized he was not going to live long enough to see health-care reform enacted.
Posted: September 9th, 2009 09:16 PM ET
The White House has released the text of the letter from the late Sen. Ted Kennedy that President Obama referenced in his address to Congress:
May 12, 2009
Dear Mr. President,
I wanted to write a few final words to you to express my gratitude for your repeated personal kindnesses to me – and one last time, to salute your leadership in giving our country back its future and its truth.
On a personal level, you and Michelle reached out to Vicki, to our family and me in so many different ways. You helped to make these difficult months a happy time in my life. You also made it a time of hope for me and for our country. When I thought of all the years, all the battles, and all the memories of my long public life, I felt confident in these closing days that while I will not be there when it happens, you will be the President who at long last signs into law the health care reform that is the great unfinished business of our society. For me, this cause stretched across decades; it has been disappointed, but never finally defeated. It was the cause of my life. And in the past year, the prospect of victory sustained me-and the work of achieving it summoned my energy and determination.
There will be struggles – there always have been – and they are already underway again. But as we moved forward in these months, I learned that you will not yield to calls to retreat – that you will stay with the cause until it is won. I saw your conviction that the time is now and witnessed your unwavering commitment and understanding that health care is a decisive issue for our future prosperity. But you have also reminded all of us that it concerns more than material things; that what we face is above all a moral issue; that at stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country.
And so because of your vision and resolve, I came to believe that soon, very soon, affordable health coverage will be available to all, in an America where the state of a family’s health will never again depend on the amount of a family’s wealth. And while I will not see the victory, I was able to look forward and know that we will – yes, we will – fulfill the promise of health care in America as a right and not a privilege.
In closing, let me say again how proud I was to be part of your campaign- and proud as well to play a part in the early months of a new era of high purpose and achievement. I entered public life with a young President who inspired a generation and the world. It gives me great hope that as I leave, another young President inspires another generation and once more on America’s behalf inspires the entire world.
So, I wrote this to thank you one last time as a friend- and to stand with you one last time for change and the America we can become. At the Denver Convention where you were nominated, I said the dream lives on.
And I finished this letter with unshakable faith that the dream will be fulfilled for this generation, and preserved and enlarged for generations to come.
With deep respect and abiding affection,
[Ted]
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Date: 2009-09-12 01:35 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2009-09-12 10:08 pm (UTC)