Healthcare Insanity ‘09: Obama’s Rookie Mistake
August 13th, 2009 by Matt IngogliaI’m going to preface this by saying I’m sick to death of hearing about the “groundswell” of public outcry against President Obama’s efforts to reform our nation’s inadequate healthcare system. I’m tired of the media legitimizing the wackos that lobbying firms are recruiting to swarm at town hall meetings and shout down the elected officials who dare to mend a broken system. And I’m not even going to begin to talk about the off-the-chart irony of medicare receiving senior citizens lambasting the Obama administration’s proposal for a government-funded public healthcare option. It’s too easy, and that’s not something worth writing, let alone reading.
However, you’re probably thinking that I feel bad for Obama and Congressional Democrats, who can’t seem to sell the reform promises that helped sweep them into office back in November. I do not. In fact, it is my contention that stupid missteps on our side are to blame for the “backlash” with which we must now contend. Here’s what I mean, after the fold…
During the campaign, Senator Obama made a point of referring to his healthcare reform plan specifically as a plan to insure the 46 million Americans who lack coverage. Undoubtedly, that kind of promise helped contribute to his victory at the polls. Sure, some people out there don’t think healthcare is a right, but the sensible majority saw the benefits in this and elected Obama.
It seems, however, that the August heat and humidity has stifled our President’s fabled oratory ability. For instead of emphasizing the core goal of insuring the uninsured, Obama seemingly has drifted away from that popular and easy to understand idea, preferring to speak in platitudes more fitting for a scholarly journal than a town hall meeting. And as any politician worth his or her salt will tell you, complicated issues like healthcare reform demand that a crystal clear message be communicated to the masses. Thnk about it- lack of clarity leads to allegations of deliberate obfuscation and worries people who at the end of the day really have nothing to fear.
By overcomplicating the plan with unneseccary rhetorical nuances and details, and failing to emphasize the core promise of insurance for the uninsured, President Obama has inadvertently sabotaged his own efforts. If he had said clearly upon the inception of this new fight something along the lines of “Our healthcare system is riddled with waste and problems, but for now I want to focus on insuring the 46 million Americans who lack a fundamental right to affordable healthcare” you never would have seen demonstrations of the magnitude we’re contending with now. Worse, the task of fleshing out this proposal has foolishly been left to Congress, unpopular as ever and almost guaranteed to disappoint everyone when the final product comes to a vote.
This time last year, Obama wowed me with a moving convention speech, and made me proud to call myself a Democrat and prouder to support healthcare reform. Today, I can’t help but wonder how much easier this all would have been if President Obama had taken more cues from Candidate Obama’s communication skills.
Tags: healthcare, Obama
August 19th, 2009 at 5:33 am
Think about where we were during the Bush administration prior to the 2006 elections. We were stuck between a rock and a hard place, on one hand we had a President that refused to allow Congress to do its own job in legislating, and on the other we had a Congress that was content with allowing the President to dictate national policy single-handedly.
When we elected Obama in 2008, we also allowed Congress to keep the Democratic majority it won in 2006. We did so with the understanding that we ourselves were to take back America in the form of taking back our Congress. No longer would the wishes of individual states and districts be overridden by the wishes of the President. We felt that we could breathe a sigh of relief in knowing that we finally elected a president that understood the rightful duty of Congress in representing their constituents and the responsibility of Congress in pushing legislation.
What we are seeing may in fact be that slow healing of our democratic process. We did not elect Obama because we wanted another Bush tyrant with Congress as his lap dog. No, we elected our representatives in Congress as well with the expectation that they would act as our representatives and not as Obama’s ‘yes men’.
So we cannot automatically blame Congress for being as slow as it was meant to be, we cannot blame our national forum for all of America’s opinions when the final opinion is not entirely the majority’s opinion. If there are people to blame, blame the special interests lobbyists that do not want to stop their sick practice of bringing down our health standards. Blame the far right-wing hypocrites that are trying their hardest to tear us apart as we try to pick up the pieces.
And think about what effect this will have on future presidencies and congresses. Perhaps a future Democratic congress would have much more authority to stand up to a Republican president.
And regarding details, well, the devil is always in the details. America is too used to big ideas acting as an umbrella for little details. Remember how “keeping America safe” sounded wonderful after 9/11, but became hell once we realized that “keeping America safe” meant warrantless wiretapping, tortured prisoners, unilateral diplomacy, and a congress kept in the dark?
Whether or not we finally achieve health care for all, we Democrats win. But let’s keep fighting anyway.
August 19th, 2009 at 5:34 am
Sorry about the long post btw, it’s 2:30 am and I had not realized it at the time.