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1,000 rally for health care reform on Boston Common

E-mail|Link|Comments () September 7, 2009 01:50 PM

(Dina Rudick/Globe Staff)

By Meghan E. Irons, Globe Staff

More than 1,000 people rallied today on Boston Common, shouting slogans and holding aloft banners demanding "reform now" in a show of force supporting President Obama's push to overhaul health care.

In a refrain that echoed across the grassy lawn, the crowd chanted: "What do we want? Health Care Reform! When do you want it? Now!" Placards read "Public Option = Government for the People" and "Cape Cod will not let Ted's dream die." Members of the crowd said they wanted to push back against vocal opposition to reform as Obama gears up for a major health care address to Congress on Wednesday.

"The Republicans are very organized and we want to prove that the Democrats are also organized,” said Barbara Blume, 64, of Centerville on Cape Cod. “I want to tell them that they are not in step with the American people. The American people support health care reform and we support President Obama."

A parade of politicians and organizers addressed the crowd, including state Attorney General Martha Coakley, who formally launched her campaign last week to fill the US Senate seat vacated by the death of Edward M. Kennedy.

"This is a frontier that cannot wait,” Coakley said, vowing to pick up where Kennedy left off. "We need health care for everyone."

The crowd's loudest roar came when the Democrat threw her support behind a public or government-run insurance option, which she said "will give us the competition and the choice we need to make sure we have good coverage for everyone."

"If we can find money to bail out Wall Street, we can surely find money for health care reform,” Coakley said, repeating a line from a speech she gave this morning at the Greater Boston Labor Council breakfast.

The rally was not so kind to US Representative Stephen Lynch, a South Boston Democrat who is also considering a run for Kennedy seat. Boos drowned out the speech of Lynch, who has expressed skepticism about health care reform's price tag.

"He's in favor of health care reform but not in favor of the public option and that’s the difference between the sheep and the wolves," said Bill Wasserman, 82, of Ipswich

Another Democrat eyeing a run for Senate, US Representative Michael Capuano, took a poke at others seeking the seat. Health care reform, Capuano said, "will be a major test to see who actually walks the walk and who actually talks it."

Other speakers included US Representatives Edward Markey and John Tierney and Mayor Thomas M. Menino, all of whom are Democrats.