With a health care reform bill in the works, a congressional showdown in sight and few concrete policy details made public, Team Obama has turned to its strength–grassroots cheerleading. A few weeks ago, the Democratic National Committee’s “Organizing for America” rolled out its health care blog, where anyone with an internet connection can publish their personal horror story.

Thousands rolled in. The minimalist web page urges readers to “Share your Story” and “Donate Now.” Readers can sort stories by location and play up the ones they like best. In an effort to go viral, it provides links to share stories via Facebook and Twitter.

“Powered by hope (and supporters like you),” reads the kicker in the corner.

Charming. Perhaps it’s too easy to be cynical, but this isn’t a campaign anymore. It’s Congress. Getting people to chat amongst themselves seems like a calculated distraction from the lack of clear progress on Capitol Hill.

And yet, it’s hard not to feel appalled and intrigued by these stories. Take Kathy in Dyer, NV, whose two-minute appointment to check out a mole landed her with a $1,000 bill.

Charter bus driver Jerry in Allentown, PA, shares what he’s learned from his Amish passengers, who he says don’t subscribe to health insurance. “When the Amish need to go to the doctor or hospital,” he wrote, “they pay cash.”

And then there’s Charles Greenfield in New York, whose job it was to collect debts from the insurance companies: The higher the dollar-amount in question, the more they delayed. It was their policy. These companies knew it was in their best interest to ignore the bills and to come up with ANY reason for not paying…Let me humanize the “accounts” that were not being payed: they were newborn infants with serious health issues, and cardiac care patients; they were people with multiple sclerosis and cancer. In short, they were people like you and me with an illness for which their insurance providers callously and calculatingly avoided payment.

Some of the most valuable perspectives come from professionals like Charles, who have dealt with the industry from the inside. But will these stories ever have any role in shaping this summer’s health care legislation?

I talked to Wesley Creswick, a dairy feed farmer who has suffered from both rheumatoid arthritis and rising costs from his HMO. Creswick submitted his story to the blog, and with six decades notched into his belt, he had a lot more to say in person. “Right now, if you’re 60 and need health care, you better disappear,” Creswick said, alluding to the fact that there’s just no place for older Americans in the system.

I asked him what sort of impact his story, and the thousands of others on the site, would have on health care reform. Creswick didn’t seem to have much faith in the motivation of his elected officials. “Our representatives, for the most part, are a bunch of thieves and charlatans,” he said, instead putting his faith in ordinary folk. “I’m a believer in a free press and in public acknowledgment of the wrongs of the system,” he said, adding, “Shining light on mold kills it.”

Perhaps that’s what this site will do best–drum up a healthy amount of righteous anger from the silent, moderate majority. There’s nothing like constituents with a little fire in their bellies to make representatives rethink their policy positions.