Health care: Group hopes to build army of living room activists

By Shelia M. Poole

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

On one side of the health care debate is Rush Limbaugh. On the other is Brian Conton.

Conton didn’t expect to become a public advocate in the health care debate.

All the Conyers physical therapist wanted to do was vent his frustration with the current system.

But after writing a letter that appeared in two newspapers, Conton was contacted by Organizing for America, which is trying to build grass-roots support for President Barack Obama’s policy initiatives. It asked whether he would share his views about health care with others.

He recently helped organize a meeting at a home near Emory that included doctors, nurses, activists and educators.

It’s a tactic vastly different from the one taken by Obama’s opponents on the issue.

Following the “tea party” strategy used earlier this year to protest Obama’s stimulus proposals, opponents of the president’s health care effort — with Limbaugh and other conservative broadcasters urging them on — have turned out in force at town hall meetings and apparently taken control of the debate.

Thousands came to Centennial Olympic Park earlier this month to rally against health care proposals now before Congress.

It’s a strategy that has shown results, with a Washington Post/ABC News poll finding that Obama’s approval rating on health care has dropped from 57 percent in April to 46 percent earlier this month.

“The difference between Democrats and Republicans is that Republicans have rallied troops through the media,” said Daniel Franklin, an associate professor of political science at Georgia State University. “They have media outlets [television and radio] that issue the troops their marching orders and tell them what to say. The Democrats don’t have that. ... The conservatives have captured the agenda.”

Conton admits being reluctant to be “in the spotlight” in the debate, “but I am faced with a situation where in my personal practice I see the health care system deteriorating.”

He’s worried supporters of the Obama initiative have given up too much ground.

“The one chance at change is almost slipping away,” Conton said. “The debate is not focused on what we should be doing but imaginary things like death panels.”

While no proposal before Congress is advocating “death panels,” many of Obama’s opponents say heavy involvement by the government in health care could lead to the same result.

Although Conton is not a member of Organizing for America, his views quickly caught the attention of the organization, a project of the Democratic National Committee and a successor to Obama for America. It is using tools that were successful during Obama’s run for the White House — gathering a well-organized group of supporters and volunteers and tapping into social networking sites — to reach a broad cross section of Americans.

“The fact that they have translated it from a campaign apparatus to a policy apparatus is awesome,” said Hasan Crockett, an associate professor of political science at Morehouse College and director of the Brisbane Institute. “This shows they are still pretty much committed and still engaged and there is an infrastructure they can utilize.”

Still, Crockett wonders whether the administration’s message is clear enough to reach people on the fence about health care.

Obama’s supporters are “playing catch-up now,” Crockett said.

Indeed, Obama’s supporters are going up against a well-organized, vocal opponent.

That doesn’t dissuade volunteers, many of whom are holdovers from the campaign.

Alise Marshall, a regional field director with OFA, said that during the election “volunteers worked so hard not just to elect a president but to change their communities.”

Now those volunteers are holding community discussions at their homes, attending public events, knocking on doors, contacting lawmakers and calling registered voters.

Earlier this month, retiree Beverly Reese invited a relative and several friends to her Stockbridge home to make calls for Organizing for America.

Before they started calling, the volunteers reviewed the core principles Obama says any legislation should contain — affordability, availability and choice.

Reese said she worries about family members who don’t have adequate insurance or any insurance at all.

Sue Rusche is chief executive officer of the nonprofit National Families in Action. She recently hosted the event for Conton. During the presidential campaign, Rusche led a team of Obama volunteers who registered about 2,000 new voters. Now she’s focused on health care.

“I think so many members of Congress need to hear from us so it’s not so one-sided in their minds,” she said. “People [like her] didn’t disappear.”