Michael Moore addresses press on Barack Obama and Blue Dog Democrats' approach to health care reform at Public Citizen headquarters in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, September 29th, 2009. (30 Minutes)
MOORE: This is such a cruel system we have.
First to President Obama: we have been in such a state of hope since last November, a state that we haven't felt in quite some time... it made us feel very good and very proud to be part of this country, that our fellow Americans would do the right thing. And they came by a very large margin for change, real change... and it saddens me, when I see you President Obama out there stumping for health care reform and there is no enthusiastic support for your position. It feels like you're out there all alone. We look at the other side and they're out there in full force, even though they're the minority, even though they only represent 25 % of the American public, they're there at the town hall meetings, they're there at the teabagger rallies - especially my favorite one, the one last week, where they were... the pictures of them using the publicly funded rest rooms on The Mall. They've been vocal, they've been organized, they've been FUNDED.
And you probably turn around and you wonder who's got your back, because you seem to be out there all alone. The reason for that, with all due respect, is that you started with a compromise. Anybody who's bought a car, anybody who's bought or sold their house or negotiated anything, knows you don't start with your final position, you don't start with a compromise. You start with everything that you want. Everything that you believe in.
And in 2003, when you decided to run for the Senate, you said you were in favor of a single-payer health care system. And I believe in your heart you still believe that. But you started in a place where you had no wiggle room, nothing was left, and, it was a position that did not energize the base. Did not, you're not going to get millions of people out there going 'Yes, give us the public option where the private companies still get to call the shots.' How do you get people enthused about that? That's why you're out there and alone on this. You don't need to be alone.
Millions, tens of millions of Americans right now, would be right out there with you, right out in the streets, right there on the Internet with their emails, up here on Capitol Hill jamming the phone lines, if you just did what the people wanted. The majority of the people of this country are behind you. Come on!
I mean, politicians, they kill to have this support. You've got us all. You had us all.
So. You need to hit the reset button. That's all. Just hit the reset button and go back to the drawing board. Rep. Weiner is there at the drawing board already. He's there with Sen. Sanders. And they've got the legislation that the majority of the American people want.
Not only do upwards to three-quarters of the American people want universal health care, and support the public option, a majority depending on which poll you look at, either a simple majority or a plurality of Americans support single payer, support Medicare For All. You're already there. You're not out on some limb. You're not having to take a risk. You've already got the people with you, and we will be there with you every step of the way.
When you held that meeting with all the bankers, the heads of all the banks, the private meeting you had with them in the White House, I just want to read the report from that day that was in the paper. It said: "President Barack Obama wasn't in a mood to hear them out (as they went on with their explanations with why they needed trillions of dollars of our tax money). He stopped the conversation and offered a blunt reminder of the public's reaction to such explanations. He said: 'Be careful how you make those statements, gentleman. The public isn't buying that. My administration,' the President added, 'is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.'" That's what he told the bankers.
What we're here, today, to tell you, Mr. President, is that we have got your back. We're here to let you know that majority of Americans support you, and that we stand between you and the pitchforks that are being held out by the private insurance companies that want to destroy this country.
To the Democrats in Congress, who don't quite get it: I want to offer a personal pledge. I - and a lot of other people - have every intention of removing you from Congress in the next election if you stand in the way of health care legislation that the people want. That is not a hollow or idle threat. We will come to your districts and we will work against you, first in the primary, and, if we have to, in the general election. You don't think so? You think that we're just going to go along with you because you are Democrats?
You should think again. This is the No. 1 domestic issue on people's minds right now. It's the No. 1 cause of bankruptcies in this country. Medical bills. It's the No. 1 cause of foreclosures in this country. Medical bills.
We will organize the thousands of people in your district who have suffered as a result of this cruel health care system that we have - we will organize them and we will come after you and we will remove you from office. Make no mistake about that. You had better get behind the President. If you think you were afraid of a few people at a town hall meeting, you haven't seen anything yet. And let me just say, there are some people in this room, if you remember back to the election of 2000, that are fairly reckless individuals when it comes to politics. They don't really care - when they see a hypocrite, when they see somebody who's turned their back on the people who put them into office, they will be relentless, relentless in working against you. Even if it means that the Democrat doesn't win.
DON'T TAKE OUR VOTES FOR GRANTED.
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The worst thing you have to fear though, isn't that people are going to vote for Republicans, you have to worry about the fact that because you have so debilitated the people who do support the Democratic party and who support our President, where they see time and time again what they want as the people never happens - and here's what they do: they don't vote. You need their vote.
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Final thing I want to say before opening up to questions, is that, President Obama, I have a lot of faith in you. I know where you come from. You come from the working class. You were raised by a single mother and your grandparents. You had the good fortune to be allowed in to Harvard University and after you graduated from there, you didn't choose to go to Wall Street or into some law firm to make a million dollars a year, you chose to go to Chicago, to work in the inner city, where you would make no money.
Oh, and by the way, on your way there, you changed your name back to your original name - Barack Obama, not exactly the move of a politician... you just went with your heart...
You are one of us. You come from us. This is not the time to desert us. This is not the time to be the representative for the private health insurance industry. We need you to stand up. Stand up. Be bold. Be brave. Be strong... And we want universal health care for every single American and we want it controlled in a single-payer system, like the Medicare and the VA and all the other 'socialized' medicine we have in this country. And as you've said over and over again to the American people, it will be cheaper, it will cost us less and we'll be a healthier country as a result...
And the Democrats in Congress, find your spine. Read the polls. And see us coming. Thank you very much.
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