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By JULIE PACE
Associated Press Writer

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) – President Barack Obama described the stakes of this weekend’s health care vote in stark terms Friday, using words uttered so rarely out of the White House that they seem all but banned: “If this vote fails.”

What then? “The insurance industry will continue to run amok,” the president declared, pointing to rising rates, denials of coverage and limits on care.

With Sunday’s expected vote hanging on the support of just a handful of wavering Democrats, Obama delivered an energetic, 20-minute closing argument for the goal to which he has devoted much of his presidency and on which its future could pivot. Before an amped-up, campaign-style rally of several thousand at George Mason University, the president summoned both pragmatism and principle in an effort to sway the undecideds to his side.

He emphasized the bill’s provisions that would go into effect this year, including those banning insurers from denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions, dropping coverage when a person becomes ill or imposing annual or lifetime limits on care, requiring free preventive care and allowing children to stay on parents’ policies into their 20s.

Obama said the bill, if it becomes law, will deliver “the toughest insurance reforms in history” and “the largest middle class tax cut for health care in history.”

“What we’re talking about is commonsense reform,” he said, delivering his remarks at top decibel levels and ad-libbing considerably from his prepared remarks. “You’ve been hearing a whole bunch of nonsense.”

Obama also urged lawmakers to reach beyond today’s disputes and grasp the history-making aspect of the effort.

“It’s a debate that is not only about the cost of our health care but the character of our country, it is about whether we can still meet the challenges of our time, about we still have the guts and the courage to give every citizen a chance,” Obama said.

He pointed to contentious debates decades ago over creating the now-popular Social Security and Medicare programs and enacting civil rights laws. “As messy as this process is, as frustrating as this process is, as ugly as this process can be, when we have faced such decisions in our past, this nation time and time again has chosen to extend its promise to more of its people,” Obama said.

“I know this will be a tough vote. I know that everybody is counting votes right now in Washington,” he said. “We are going to do something historic this weekend. … We are going to fix health care in America.”