Last Wednesday President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress for a second round push to pass his historic health care reform bill.

He advocated for a provision for the federal government to provide insurance for direct competition to private insurers. But to the surprise of many liberals, Obama did not insist on it, indicating his willingness to, at least somewhat, offer the possibility of concessions to get the bill passed.

He said he was still ready to listen to any ideas about reform, but made his message clear to stern Republicans trying to kill the bill.

“I will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that it’s better politics to kill this plan than to improve it,” Obama said.

The president again in his speech shied away from providing exact specifics to include in the bill, leaving that to the lawmakers to decide. But he said there is widespread agreement on about 80 percent of what must be included in the legislation.

He then directly challenged the lawmakers.

“Instead of honest debate, we have seen scare tactics,” he said. “The time for bickering is over.”

The president implemented the infamous “bully pulpit” to get congress to act. The move opened the publics eyes, and shifted all the heat to the lawmakers to bring about action.