Obama group seeks ‘stories’ of healthcare

Yesterday, the group recruited thousands of its volunteer members to gather in farmers’ markets, rehab clinics, parks, and libraries nationwide as part of a National Health Care Day of Service. It was a do-gooder occasion with a blunt, short-term political objective: calling attention to the administration’s “work to reform America’s healthcare system,’’ as Michelle Obama put it in an e-mail to supporters.

The push for a major healthcare overhaul presents a significant test of the president’s ability to harness grass-roots energy and convert it into governing power. Obama is counting on having his activists promote healthcare as a two-sided choice - either take urgent action now or lose the opportunity for a long time - even as congressional negotiators, and other interest groups, haggle over the policy specifics that drive the lawmaking process.

“Every American is going to have a different opinion about what should be in the plan,’’ said Paul Tewes, who served last year as a top campaign strategist for Obama. “What they’re doing is what they did during the campaign. Once you’re listening to people and respecting people and inviting people into a conversation, individuals will be empowered to play a part.’’

After being elected, Obama took the remnants of his campaign structure and reinvented it as an activist arm of the Democratic National Committee. As it works to influence the healthcare debate, Organizing for America has downplayed the typical tools of legislative activism: bombarding congressional switchboards, mail rooms, and computer servers - or local newspapers with letters to the editor - as a show of force.

“When I look at what other groups have done, it’s not going to be effective if you’re just an e-mail list or a paid service that puts in calls that aren’t really from the grass roots,’’ said Jeremy Bird, deputy director of Organizing for America.

Instead, the organization has used its supporter base - culled from the millions of names Obama collected during the presidential campaign - as a source of what it calls stories: first-person accounts of travails faced under the current medical system.

On Friday, the latest of them found its way to YouTube, featuring an unemployed Florida woman unable to secure insurance because of a preexisting condition.

“We get [the stories] out in a number of ways, whether that’s in a Web ad or a press conference,’’ Bird said. “When we go door-to-door, our scripts have people sharing their own healthcare stories more than policy points.’’

Obama took a similar approach to the economic stimulus bill that passed Congress in February, his first major legislative initiative. He called on Congress to pass a collection of tax cuts and new spending, but did not fully activate his grass-roots network until Congress had shaped the contours of the package.

Organizing for America tried only to illustrate the need for swift action, coordinating nationwide “economic recovery’’ house parties, and gathering individual testimonials about the need for more federal help.

“It keeps legislators’ minds riveted to the problem,’’ said Senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat. “It’s helpful to have groups reminding people of the urgency.’’

In the healthcare debate, Obama has stood publicly for little other than urgency. He has committed himself only to a set of principles so broad that they fit comfortably into the mainstream of both parties’ views.

In the past week, he has emphasized his willingness to bend on key points, such as mandating that individuals be insured and taxing health benefits they receive from employers - both positions Obama opposed as a candidate. He has also spoken in favor of a public insurance plan, perhaps the most controversial provision being debated in Congress, but has not insisted that it be part of the bill being drafted in Congress.

Yet others pushing for a healthcare overhaul have tied themselves to specific provisions. A leading left-wing coalition, Health Care for America Now, has run ads promoting the inclusion of a public insurance plan. A group of doctors and nurses led by Vermont’s former governor, Howard Dean, gathered in Washington during the past week to push the same agenda. Meanwhile, labor unions are fighting efforts to tax health benefits.

Organizing for America is coordinating with many liberal interest groups on their efforts around healthcare activism, according to Bird. But Obama’s volunteer base will hold back from the internecine policy fights, he said, and wait instead for a satisfactory bill to reach the floor before backing it.

“Most of the groups have a sense of what they want in a plan,’’ said Dorgan. “At this point, there’s not yet a product. When there’s a bill coming out from the floor of the House and Senate, there will be plenty of time for constituent groups to weigh the particular product.’’