When Barack Obama is inaugurated this month, his transition team will present him with suggestions on reforming health care from thousands of people across the country, including more than 200 who convened recently in Columbia.
The campaign organization the president-elect built is still at work, using vast e-mail lists to mobilize people who want to take part in transforming vital programs like health care by braving a cold holiday weeknight to put their thoughts down on paper.
"How refreshing is it that a campaign that is successful wants to listen to its supporters' ideas?" County Executive Ken Ulman told the standing-room-only crowd that turned out Monday night at the Florence Bain Senior Center in Harpers Choice.
Ulman, Del. Shane Pendergrass and county health officer Dr. Peter L. Beilenson conducted the meeting, which was part of a national effort by the Obama team to build enthusiasm for change by asking supporters to hold hundreds of meetings on the issue.
At the same time, the gatherings are intended to help build momentum for congressional action later this year. Former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle, Obama's choice for secretary of health and human services, attended several of the meetings, though not the one in Howard County.
Pendergrass said the issue is not a partisan one, despite the Democratic origins of the meetings. Ulman's office invited elected Republicans, though only GOP County Councilman Greg Fox arrived briefly toward the session's end, Fox said. Republican State Sen. Allan H. Kittleman said he was unable to attend because he was out of town but commended the effort to solicit ideas.
"This certainly is a notable endeavor," he said.
Republican Del. Warren E. Miller said he was busy with family and could not attend. But he said he was suspicious of the meeting, which he thought sounded more like a rally than a policy event.
"Whenever I think about [health care reform], I think of socialized health care, which I don't agree with," he said.
Pendergrass said party affiliation doesn't matter.
"I think there's a role for everybody in this process," she said. "The people getting sick are not Democrats or Republicans. The people getting sick are Americans."
Pendergrass said she believes Obama has the ability to foster a consensus and make change happen: "What's political about this is that with the change in administration, there's a will to reinvent the health care system."
