Jackson's Bully Pulpit

There was a different type of congressional town-hall meeting on Chicago's South Side last night.

Instead of a mob scene familiar to anyone who pays attention to the health-reform debate on TV, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.'s meeting resembled a church service. (It was held at Sheldon Heights Church of Christ.)

Public opinion is proving to be crucial to President Obama's health reform, and scenes of angry voters shouting down congressmen at town-hall meetings is hurting the cause. Jackson's meeting, while highly orchestrated by the politician, showed a much different view: Americans who clearly want health reform. Obama is going to need to point to more meetings like Jackson's town hall to sell his trillion-dollar plan.

Jackson spoke from the pulpit and received multiple standing ovations, especially when he stressed points about overpaid insurance executives, a tax on the rich, and limited access to health care for the poor.

At several points in the speech, I expected him to ask for an amen.

If there were dissenters in the crowd of about 300 mostly African-Americans, they didn't speak up. But, then again, Jackson only called on people who wrote questions out before the meeting.

"We're showing the nation at our town-hall meeting how to behave," Jackson said.

The crowd responded with enthusiasm when he addressed the public option for a government-run health program to cover the nation's 46 million uninsured, a key provision that the White House waffled on in recent days.

"Health care reform without a viable public option is a nonstarter for us," Jackson said. That got a standing ovation.

The meeting began with testimonials from patients and health care workers.

Sharon Hamilton, a South Side woman who said her Blue Cross plan she'd had for 25 years refused to pay for her followup care after surgery for breast cancer. It took her husband Leon's diligent lobbying of the insurer to change its mind, which it eventually did, she said. But in the meantime, it caused the Hamiltons a lot of grief.

"Cancer patients should not be put into stressful situations," Sharon Hamilton told the crowd. "This caused me a lot of stress, a lot of concern, and a lot of worry."

Dorothy Amad, a nurse at Cook County's John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital, said young girls aren't getting treated for sexually transmitted diseases and are left sterile because they can't afford simple antibiotics. That drew gasps from the audience.

Amad then gave a shout-out to her union group, the National Nurses Organizing Committee. The group is part of California Nurses Association, which is trying to spread its base. There were other union members at the meeting, but the crowd largely appeared to be regular folks.

To be sure, there was quite a bit of political maneuvering. Jackson even admitted to his audience: "We spent a lot of time watching the town-hall meetings in preparation for our own."

At the end, he told the crowd to turn toward the TV cameras in the church balcony to applaud and show support for the public health care option. The folks in the pews obliged. I thought for sure he'd ask for an amen.