US President Barack Obama has invoked his personal agony over his late grandmother's death, in his most emotional defence yet of his difficult health-care reform drive.
On a tour mixing high-stakes politics with stops in majestic national parks, Mr Obama said he was fighting a battle of hope over fear against critics who wanted to thwart his reform drive and stall his presidency.
He debated several sceptical members of a Colorado crowd yesterday and fired off high-octane rhetoric reminiscent of his 2008 campaign.
''Because we are getting close, the fight is getting fierce,'' he told about 1600 people packed into a high-school gym in Grand Junction, Colorado.
He accused critics of trying to scare the American people. ''These struggles have always boiled down to a contest between hope and fear,'' he said, referring to past presidents' crusades for pension and health-care reform.
Mr Obama also took another swipe at Republicans who claimed his plans would include a ''death panel'' to make fateful decisions to deprive terminally-ill elderly patients of expensive treatments.
''What you can't do or you can but shouldn't do is say things like we want to set up death panels to pull the plug on Grandma,'' he said.
''I just lost my grandmother last year. I know what it's like to watch somebody you love, who's ageing, deteriorate, and have to struggle with that.''
Former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin and other Republicans claimed death panels were included in draft Democratic legislation.
Mr Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, died last year after he paid her an emotional farewell visit in his native Hawaii just days before the presidential election.
The President's event at Grand Junction and a town hall meeting in Montana on Friday were designed to counter what the White House said were waves of misinformation about his plans.
One young man bluntly challenged Mr Obama, saying the plan for a government entity to compete with insurance firms to offer health care was unfair and would not work.
''I'd love to have a debate all-out Oxford-style,'' university student Zack Lane told Mr Obama.
''I don't want generalities. I don't want a philosophical argument.''
Mr Obama rejected Mr Lane's arguments but praised his boldness and respectful tone, implicitly comparing it with raging tirades replayed over and over again from congressional town hall events.
''It is good to see a young, very engaged and confident young man challenging the President to an Oxford-style debate ... you got to have a little chutzpah.''
Mr Obama denies claims he is trying to introduce a ''socialised'' system like the national health services in Canada and Britain, after dire portraits painted by his rivals of state-run medicine in those two countries.
Republicans argue that ''Obamacare'' would be too expensive, swell the ballooning deficit, worsen the quality of care now offered by the private system and strangle the industry with government bureaucracy.
Mr Obama promises to expand coverage, control spiralling health-care costs, rein in insurance companies and prioritise preventative care. AFP
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