Bad Week On Health Care for the White House
by Sam Adams MMIV: Though it’s been only two weeks since the last story describing a White House shift in messaging in health care, it’s apparently time for yet another, according to The Wall Street Journal: “A top White House adviser said he doubted that two Senate Republicans at the center of health-care talks are negotiating seriously, as Democrats adopted a more confrontational tone accusing Republicans of blocking change.”
For those keeping track, the shift to “adopt[ing] a more confrontational tone” is at least the eighth time in the last month there have been reports about the White House retooling the message or reframing the debate on health care. A couple weeks ago, The New York Times reported, “President Obama sought Wednesday to reframe the health care debate as ‘a core ethical and moral obligation,’ imploring a coalition of religious leaders to help promote the plan to lower costs and expand insurance coverage for all Americans.” A day before that, The Washington Post noted that “the main message on health care shifted from cost containment to attacking insurance companies.” On August 11th, the AP reported, “President Barack Obama is switching his message on his overhaul of the nation’s health care system, readying a fresh pitch designed for those who already have insurance.” The same day, another AP story said, “Retooling his message amid sliding support, Obama poked at critics who he said were trying to ‘scare the heck out of folks.’” A day before those reports, The Huffington Post noted, “The administration also sought to reframe the debate on eight core principles for ‘health insurance consumer protections,’ which aides said resonated much better than the ‘health care reform’ push it has made to this point.” At the end of July, the AP wrote, “Barack Obama introduced a retooled message asserting his plan would protect Americans and limit insurers’ power.” And a week before that, a Politico story on Obama’s last primetime press conference noted “He sought to reframe his plans as a matter of improving the lives of most Americans . . ."
Certainly, it’s easy to understand why the Obama administration feels it’s necessary to keep shifting its messaging on health care. Politico reports today, “Aides to President Barack Obama are putting the final touches on a new strategy to help Democrats recover from a brutal August recess by specifying what Obama wants to see in a compromise health care deal and directly confronting other trouble spots . . . .” The Washington Post’s Dan Balz has a piece titled, “After a Bruising August, Time for Obama Team to Regroup.”
But even with the constant regrouping, President Obama and Democrats don’t seem to be convincing a skeptical public. A McClatchy/Ipsos poll finds “continuing opposition to Democratic health care proposals — 45 percent opposed and 40 percent supporting — and served as another reminder to Obama that he needs to find a way to reframe the debate if he's to win public and congressional support for a health care overhaul." Is reframing the debate yet again really what President Obama needs to do though? A better idea might be to rethink the policy, to drop the issue or to "start over.”
[Sam Adams MMIV is a pen name for an un-named beltway source.]
Tags: health care, Obamacare, The White House To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
For those keeping track, the shift to “adopt[ing] a more confrontational tone” is at least the eighth time in the last month there have been reports about the White House retooling the message or reframing the debate on health care. A couple weeks ago, The New York Times reported, “President Obama sought Wednesday to reframe the health care debate as ‘a core ethical and moral obligation,’ imploring a coalition of religious leaders to help promote the plan to lower costs and expand insurance coverage for all Americans.” A day before that, The Washington Post noted that “the main message on health care shifted from cost containment to attacking insurance companies.” On August 11th, the AP reported, “President Barack Obama is switching his message on his overhaul of the nation’s health care system, readying a fresh pitch designed for those who already have insurance.” The same day, another AP story said, “Retooling his message amid sliding support, Obama poked at critics who he said were trying to ‘scare the heck out of folks.’” A day before those reports, The Huffington Post noted, “The administration also sought to reframe the debate on eight core principles for ‘health insurance consumer protections,’ which aides said resonated much better than the ‘health care reform’ push it has made to this point.” At the end of July, the AP wrote, “Barack Obama introduced a retooled message asserting his plan would protect Americans and limit insurers’ power.” And a week before that, a Politico story on Obama’s last primetime press conference noted “He sought to reframe his plans as a matter of improving the lives of most Americans . . ."
Certainly, it’s easy to understand why the Obama administration feels it’s necessary to keep shifting its messaging on health care. Politico reports today, “Aides to President Barack Obama are putting the final touches on a new strategy to help Democrats recover from a brutal August recess by specifying what Obama wants to see in a compromise health care deal and directly confronting other trouble spots . . . .” The Washington Post’s Dan Balz has a piece titled, “After a Bruising August, Time for Obama Team to Regroup.”
But even with the constant regrouping, President Obama and Democrats don’t seem to be convincing a skeptical public. A McClatchy/Ipsos poll finds “continuing opposition to Democratic health care proposals — 45 percent opposed and 40 percent supporting — and served as another reminder to Obama that he needs to find a way to reframe the debate if he's to win public and congressional support for a health care overhaul." Is reframing the debate yet again really what President Obama needs to do though? A better idea might be to rethink the policy, to drop the issue or to "start over.”
[Sam Adams MMIV is a pen name for an un-named beltway source.]
Tags: health care, Obamacare, The White House To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Posted by Bill Smith at 12:30 PM - Post Link
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