Obama fires up labor for health care fight

President Obama on Monday delivered a fiery speech for health care reform to an enthusiastic audience of labor members.

In a Labor Day speech to an AFL-CIO picnic in Cincinnati, the president sought to fire up the troops by reassuring them that he planned to continue the fight for health care reform.

The president also expressed his continued support for the so-called public option, which would allow the government to create a health care plan to compete against private insurers in an effort to drive down health care costs. But he only mentioned the public option once and did not characterize it as essential to health care reform.

After a contentious month marked by rowdy town hall meetings with members of Congress, the president tried to regain the high ground in the debate, promising that health insurance reform would deliver "more stability and security" to every American.

Using some of his most direct language to date, President Obama challenged Republican critics to put their own plan on the table. "But I've got a question for them: What's your answer? What's your solution? The truth is, they don't have one. It's do nothing," the president said.

Monday's speech was a possible precursor to Wednesday night, when the president speaks to a joint session of Congress and millions of American viewers about the urgency of health care reform.

Flanked by local politicians and administration officials, Obama praised the labor movement for changes in the workplace over the past century. "So let us never forget: much of what we take for granted-the 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, health insurance, paid leave, pensions, Social Security, Medicare-they all bear the union label," the president said.

Obama also pushed back against criticism that his economic recovery plan hasn't worked and reminded the audience of the economic crisis he inherited when he took office in January. "Now, some people have already forgotten how bad it was just seven months ago. A financial system on the verge of collapse. About 700,000 workers losing their jobs each month. The worst recession of our lifetimes threatening to become another Great Depression," he said.

The president said his administration "took bold, swift action," including the passage of the $787 billion stimulus bill "without the usual Washington earmarks and pork-barrel spending." And, he told Ohioans, that the stimulus is working.

"We've given 95 percent of America's working families a tax cut-4.5 million families in Ohio, including here in Cincinnati," he said. "We've cut taxes for small businesses, and made new loans to more than 1,000 small businesses in Ohio so they can grow and hire more workers."

Despite fierce opposition from the GOP, the president tried to keep his speech upbeat and optimistic, especially on health care. "We've never been this close. We've never had such broad agreement on what needs to be done. And because we're so close to real reform, the special interests are doing what they always do-trying to scare the American people and preserve the status quo," he said.

Obama ended his speech with his familiar 2008 campaign mantra, "fired up and ready to go," which he repeated several times with audience participation.