Health Reform: The Fateful Moment

By Theodore R. Marmor, Jonathan Oberlander

Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis

by Senator Tom Daschle, with Scott S. Greenberger and Jeanne M. Lambrew

Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's, 226 pp., $23.95

Barack Obama has long emphasized the importance of reforming American medical care, both as a candidate in the 2008 election and as president. During the month of June, however, he dramatically increased his efforts to secure major reform legislation by the end of the year.

The President is using his oratorical skills to rally support for reform. In a series of speeches and town hall meetings, Obama made his case for expanding insurance coverage and controlling medical spending. Speaking before the annual meeting of the American Medical Association in Chicago on June 15, for example, he painted a familiar, distressing portrait of a health care system that costs too much, leaves too many Americans without adequate insurance, and too often provides substandard care.