IOWA CITY, IOWA — Inside the University of Iowa Field House Thursday, President Barack Obama owned the room, filled to capacity with a “yes we can” crowd of supporters who responded with impassioned exclamations and enthusiastic applause.

Tom -- no last name given-- holds a homemade protest sign outside of Obama's health care rally Thursday. Photo: Beth Dalbey, Iowa Independent

Tom -- no last name given-- holds a homemade protest sign outside of Obama's health care rally Thursday. Photo: Beth Dalbey, Iowa Independent

Outside, though, the bite in the early spring wind matched the mood of those gathered in opposition to health care reform.

Don Blackford, a 49-year-old federal government employee from Logan in Iowa’s conservative 5th District, waved a hand-lettered sign reading “Dictator Obama” on one side and “Can we impeach him yet?” on the other.

“I’m here to protest the dictator Obama ruining this country,” said Blackford, who declined to say what government agency employs him. “The No. 1 role of government is to be limited in people’s lives, not to rule the country.”

He and other protesters said the reconciliation process used to pass portions of health-care legislation caused already simmering anti-government sentiment to boil over. They believe the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the cases of state attorneys general who claim the legislation violates state sovereignty rights guaranteed in the 10th Amendment and the legislation will be invalidated.

“This violates states’ rights. It’s unconstitutional, lawsuits have been filed and we will win this,” Blackford said. “We’ve got four judges on our side.”

Blackford, who claims allegiance to groups like the Minutemen Patriots, the Defense Force and other militia groups, says he “supports our Constitution, right or wrong.”

“We will fight, fight, fight – and make sure to get conservatives running for office and get the 219 traitors who voted for this thrown out of office,” he said. “We will never give up.”

How far health-care reform opponents go if the Supreme Court declines to hear the case, or upholds the legislation?

(photo by Beth Dalbey/The Iowa Indepent)

Don Blackford, right, displays his sign while a pro-reform activist looks on. Photo: Beth Dalbey, Iowa Independent

Blackford, setting his jaw, declined to answer.

Asked the same question, Larry Aden, a 53-year-old factory worker from Calhoun County, answered: “Passive resistance. We will not pay the tax. We will not lie down for this tyranny. We will go to jail if necessary.”

Aden wore the likeness of the American flag on a scarf tied into doo rag and a Minuteman Patriot T-shirt, carried a megaphone in the hammer loop of his pants and held a huge yellow Tea Party Movement flag that waved wildly in the strong winds.

“I’m interested in saving our republic from tyranny, ‘Obamacare’ tyranny, any kind of tyranny,” he said.

Aden’s employer pays for his health insurance, so the legislation won’t affect him. But what becomes of Americans who do not have health insurance and currently can’t get coverage because of pre-existing conditions?

“Like most Americans, I am a Christian,” he said. “I will not turn my back on my fellow man. But when you have all these cities full of slothful human beings who live off welfare, I don’t feel obliged.”

Aden said the militia movement has been steadily growing in recent years. “There are so many issues just piling up,” he said.

A few feet away, Patricia Kelley, 75, a social work professor emeritus at the University of Iowa, said opponents are co-opting a historic event in American history for an Obama backlash is wrongheaded.

“The Tea Party originally was for taxation without representation,” she said. “These people have representation. The majority voted for Obama, and this got a majority vote. To call it a Tea Party movement makes no sense.”

Kelley, now of Iowa City, has lived in Canada and Australia, countries which have government-sponsored health care, and she believes the systems work well there. And, she said, “they think we are barbarians because we don’t have it.”

Anti-health reform protester and XXX Larry Aden (photo by Beth Dalbey/The Iowa Independent).

Larry Aden, who says "Obamacare" is helping fuel the growth of the militia movement. Photo: Beth Dalbey, Iowa Independent

Kelley, who has good insurance with Medicare and a supplemental policy that costs her thousands of dollars a year, says she won’t benefit from the legislation. “But it will help thousands of people,” she said, including potentially her granddaughter, now a teenage athlete, but an infant who was born with a hole in her heart. Fifteen insurance companies turned the girl’s parents down for coverage before they finally found one that would insure her before surgery to correct the birth defect, Kelley said.

“There are a lot of people who just can’t get coverage, and not just really poor people,” she said. “The working poor can’t afford insurance.”

Gary Smith, 59, also of Iowa City, called the legislation “a good start,” but not perfect.

“The problem is, there’s been no regulation of the insurance industry, and no public option provided,” said Smith, who worked to have those provisions included through a group called Iowans for Health and the Service Employees International Union.

Smith was laid off from his job, but has insurance under a family plan available through his wife’s job. He said he’s not personally affected by the legislation, “except on a larger level, that a healthy society is a better society.”

The legislation will benefit his 30-year-old daughter, who he said had a difficult pregnancy with twins and was disallowed coverage by Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, Iowa’s largest health insurance provider.

“She many never have another baby in her life, but because of a pre-existing condition, she was essentially ruled out,” he said.

Inside the field house, Alan Herzog, 56, of Iowa City said he attended the rally because “it’s history.” Republican opposition is “just sour notes,” he said. “They’re not going to get their payoffs – kickbacks, in my opinion – from the insurance companies.”

Stella Best of Columbus Junction sat with a protective hand on her husband, Jack’s, back. He’s in a long-term care facility and has coverage, but Stella Best said universal coverage will “help close the doughnut hole” – the cost Medicare and a supplemental policy don’t cover on the many prescription drugs she takes.

“It’s a shame our country has waited this long to do anything about health care,” she said.

More: ‘Yes we did’: Scenes from Obama’s Iowa health care rally