President Obama Urges Youth to Support Health Care Reform

By Alex Laska

President Barack Obama delivered a speech today to students at The University Maryland College Park to address health care reform and to urge America’s youth to support his plans.

The speech came just days after Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) released the draft of his healthcare bill, which has been received tepidly by Republicans and Democrats alike.

“I promised to be a President who didn’t just clear up yesterday’s crises; I didn’t want to be a President who was just content with standing still,” the President told students crammed into the basketball arena at the University of Maryland.

“I promised to be a President who would build a better future; who would move this nation forward; who would ensure that this generation – your generation – had the same chances and the same opportunities that our parents gave us.”

Obama outlined his plans for health care reform, but added that, “Health care is about more than the details of a policy. It’s about what kind of country you want to be.”

Alluding to the healthcare plans of other industralized nations Obama said, “We are the only nation on Earth that leaves millions of people without health insurance,” Obama said.

“We spend more than any country on Earth, and we’re not any healthier for it. So this is about what kind of country you want your children to grow up in.”

Today’s speech was only one of a series of speeches he’s been giving across the country to rally support for health care reform. He has also addressed large audiences in Minneapolis and Pittsburgh but it was the first one during which he was heckled: while telling the audience stories about people who had gone through health care-related nightmares, one man stood up and shouted that Obama’s healthcare “Kills children!” through abortion. The people around him booed, and eventually the person causing the disturbance was escorted out by security to cheers from the audience.

Obama has been looking for support from key demographics that rallied for him during the campaign, including labor union members, middle class workers, and now young Americans.