I recently wrote a piece on what the Affordable Care Act does about racial and ethnic health disparities, a long-standing problem that had never been addressed by federal legislation before the law's passage. The law takes important steps to improve health care access and quality for low-income communities of color, but its efforts to confront unequal neighborhood conditions that drive poor health in the first place (such as environmental pollution and lack of supermarkets) aren’t up to snuff.

What a difference a few days makes. Almost as if on cue, on Friday the Department of Health and Human Services released two strategic plans with the specific goal of reducing health disparities. The HHS Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities largely focuses on implementing portions of the Affordable Care Act—such as improving data collection on health inequities, establishing cultural competency educations for health workers and expanding community health centers. The National Stakeholder Strategy for Achieving Health Equity, however, targets what’s going on in local communities.

“A lot of health and health care is not just about the doctor,” Garth N. Graham, HHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health, told The Root about the Stakeholder Strategy. The plan was created with input from grassroots organizations, local businesses and academic institutions across the country – all which stressed that it does little good to preach about proper diet and exercise without understanding the neighborhood context. “It’s also about how people interact with other components of daily life,” he said.

With that premise in mind, the hefty, 228-page Stakeholder Strategy provides a roadmap for how local communities can partner with local businesses and local government to create community solutions, buoyed by investment from various federal agencies. Whether the challenge involves food deserts, water pollution, mold-infested housing, or lack of parks and other recreational facilities, the document offers ideas to solve them.

“We don’t want to make this seem like eliminating health disparities is entirely a federal effort,” said Graham. “What you need is strong federal commitment and investment; then other things can occur from there on the community level.”

Both the HHS Action Plan and the National Stakeholder Strategy go into effect immediately, using existing department funds for now. Despite a Republican-controlled House of Representatives which is likely to oppose the initiatives in the next fiscal year, HHS remains optimistic about the leadership from various supporters in Congress, such as Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.), both of whom spoke at a Washington press conference announcing the plans.

Brian Smedley, vice president for the Health Policy Institute at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, who also spoke at the presser, noted the economic impact associated with health disparities. According to a Joint Center study (pdf), between 2003 and 2006 health care inequities cost Americans $1.24 trillion.

On a local level, however, I wondered if the political will to take this on was really there. It’s not like this is a new problem – low-income community health challenges have persisted since…forever. Graham is considerably more optimistic.

“You can’t assume that because a situation is bad, it will always be bad,” he said. “These ideas came from people at the local level, so this is about giving them a forum. People can now display to their local legislatures, state health departments and other organizations, what a concrete strategy looks like. We’re connecting that with a national effort, so communities know they’re also part of something even bigger.”

President Obama officially launched his re-election campaign on Monday, filing papers with the Federal Election Commission and releasing “It Begins With Us,” a video pitching his 2012 bid as a grassroots effort powered by the people. It worked once before, so why not try it again?

The president himself is absent during the two-minute spot, which instead focuses on supporters who make up his target demographics. Gladys, a Hispanic mother from Nevada, stresses that many issues must still be addressed in the country, and that she wants President Obama to be the one to handle them. Mike, a white college student, is eager to volunteer. Ed, a white man from North Carolina, says, “I don’t agree with Obama on everything, but I respect him and trust him.” Katherine, a white woman from Colorado, explains that re-election will be determined by individuals at the grassroots level.

Then there's Alice, a black woman from Michigan with only this to say: “President Obama is one person—plus, he (sic) got a job. We’re paying him to do a job, so we can’t say, ‘Could you take some time off and get us all energized?’ So we better figure it out.”

As the only African American featured in the video, and compared to the optimistic voices from everybody else, Alice’s argumentative tone struck an odd note. The message that comes across, whether intended or not, is that black folks better motivate themselves to vote for Obama again because he’s too busy to ask for our support. It’s not the most inspiring selling point. Moving forward, a better tactic might be to acknowledge the jobs and housing crisis disproportionately facing African Americans and illuminate what he’s actually doing about those issues.

On the other hand, the campaign is just getting started.

“This was just an announcement. It’s not indicative of what will happen over the course of the next 18 months,” David Bositis, senior research associate for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, told The Root.

Bositis also says, however, that despite dismal jobs numbers and more recent disappointment over his decision to hold military tribunals for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, most of Obama’s base will likely return to the polls for him. “All evidence shows that there is strong support by African Americans for President Obama, and I think his campaign is going to be counting on that,” he said. “In certain respects, he’s also blessed by his opposition. It’s pretty clear that the potential Republican candidates will pursue policies that are outright hostile to the interests of African Americans.”

Obama’s re-election problem lies, then, with appealing beyond his base. He’ll have to reach white men like Ed, and residents of the cornfield-lined small towns and middle class row houses featured in the video’s opening montage. “To win a presidential election, you have to put together the right mix of supporters, and in many states that’s going to involve getting a significant amount of the white independent vote,” said Bositis.

It will be a hard slog to win those voters. Over the past two years we’ve seen rampant fear and resentment toward Obama, from never-ending questioning about his citizenship to charges that he’s shoving the country toward socialism. It may be less a matter of guys like Ed who disagree with but trust the president -- and more of a question of what to do with birther conspiracy theorists.

But Obama has experience in successfully running an unlikely campaign. As we move into his new "It Begins With Us" chapter, we’ll see whether he can do it again.