President Barack Obama says Congress should ignore the politics around his health care overhaul and remember that the unpopular proposals that created Medicare and Social Security passed with lawmakers' courage.
Obama on Friday made a final push for legislation that Congress was set to vote on during a high-profile Sunday session. Obama says the health proposal is similar to Social Security and Medicare, which were widely criticized when they were debated but ultimately passed.
Obama says those programs lifted millions of Americans out of poverty and let older citizens enjoy their senior years. He says Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and Harry Truman knew they were the right moves. He also says the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy knew health care was right and fought for it for decades.
