Obama issues bold demand for health care action

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US President Barack Obama speaking about healthcare reform before a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. — AFP

WASHINGTON, Sept 10 (AFP): President Barack Obama demanded action now from Congress to fix a health system reduced to "breaking point," vowing to end the moral taint that deprives millions of Americans of treatment.
In a bold bid to assert leadership as a fractious debate rattles his young administration, Obama strode late Wednesday into a rare joint address to Congress and rejected some conservative attacks on his plan as lies.
"We did not come here to fear the future, we came here to shape it," said Obama, reprising the reformist zeal that powered his triumphant 2008 election campaign, but which has been sullied by months in Washington's partisan swamp.
"I still believe we can act when it is hard," he said.
"I am not the first President to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last," he added to a huge ovation from lawmakers.