A picture essay of tonight's SF rally outside SF's City Hall ... just a quick report ...
No screaming. No guns. No backtalk. Just a group of old friends, happy to be together once again ... and ready, oh so ready to take on the fight.
If the passion, conviction, and dedication of this crowd says anything, Mr. President, it is this: "We've got your back." Just DO IT!
Near the stage.The crowd stretched 1/2 way from the steps of City Hall to the end of the plaza. Maybe 2000? As of 11PM, no coverage of event on local media.
I was reminded tonight of a warm, sunny night back in the autumn of '07 when I was one of 7000 lining the streets near City Hall waiting to enter the Bill Graham Auditorium to see Sen. Obama speak.
Back then, I was front and center as the Senator arrived and emerged from his car to inform the crowd not everybody would probably get inside. He took about ten minute to shake hands; I pushed my friend's arm forward so she could shake 'the man's' hand (I'd already had the honor). We were right in front of the Secret Service agent and wow, his eyes were everywhere AND scared, tho' he honest to God visibly relaxed a bit when dear Kathy patted him on the chest and said "Don't worry, he's safe here." And he was and he seemed to know it as he plunged into the crowd. Well, wouldn't you know (security be damned) a few minutes later, in typical early campaign fashion, they just threw the doors wide open and let us all in ...
Tonight was another warm, sunny night. A friend and I (thanks, Rosie Nixon, for the photos) joined a few thousand still hopeful troops for the OFA's vociferously colorful San Francisco style Town Hall. In this city, there's just no place for astroturfing. Truth, and a burning, itching desire to find, fight for, preserve and scream it from the rooftops still prevails.
Right now, one in five Californians lives without any kind of health insurance. Proposals in front of Congress could reduce the number of uninsured by 97%, expanding coverage to 5.3 million people in the Golden State.
A typical SF crowd: every age, sexual orientation, cultural heritage.
Universal Health Care ... the San Francisco Model
In an August 27 student conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Healthy San Francisco's universal health care experiment which provides healthcare access for the uninsured, revealed a high rate of satisfaction. The program, launched in 2006 by SF Mayor Gavin Newsom, covers 45,000 city residents. 94 percent are at least somewhat satisfied with the program and 92 percent say they would recommend to a friend.
Bay Area residents from as far away from Sacramento attended the event. One OFA group brought along their health care quilt, which depicted stories and hopes of residents of the Sacto Valley area.
Forty-one percent report improvements in how well their health needs are being met compared to before the program existed while 44 percent report paying less for healthcare than before they joined the program and 32 percent say they are paying a lot less.
Enrollment fees range from $3 to $201, depending on participants' incomes.
The night's most visible group? Doctors calling for Health Care reform. Some 25 year veterans who have been fighting for their entire careers for patient's rights. Young doctors and med students, mostly from UCSF and SF General, some in scrubs, most in those cool white jackets, many still sporting stethoscopes and IDs, some carrying signs. ... Their joint message? THE TIME IS NOW!
"Let's be the generation that finally tackles our health care crisis. We can control costs by focusing on prevention, by providing better treatment to the chronically ill, and using technology to cut the bureaucracy. Let's be the generation that says right here, right now, that we will have universal health care in America by the end of the next president's first term." Sen. Barack Obama. Springfield, Illinois. Feburary 10, 2007
The crowd occupied at least 1/2 of the plaza. On Polk Street,just in front of City Hall, advocates for single payer lined both sides of the street, as cars slowly moved by. More honking than not!
And yup, it's me!
"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America." President Barack Obama, Inaugural Address, January 20, 2009.
Let's go get 'em!