[StBernard] Democrats Flip Focus of Healthcare Debate, But It's Too Little, Too Late

[Westley Annis]

I wasted 5 minutes of my life listening to that communistic idiot in the
White House go on and on about how the Republicans are playing politics and
they are distorting the facts.

Two things I have in reply that:  First, many members of Obama's own
Democratic Party are saying these things, so is Obama saying "they" are
wrong?  Second, after criticing the opposition that they are distorting
facts, he fails to mention even a single example of how the facts have been
distorted????

And of course Obama is not going to get into facts because that's where the
opposition and the public will kick his teeth in.  Obama has to make this a
personal thing...God forbid he try to debate with facts and figures,
especially since his own White House budget staff and the Congres's budget
office are telling the media his universal health program can't come close
to being run for the cost he's quoting.

John 

-----Original Message-----
Read these two paragraphs if you read nothing else:
-------------------------------------------------------------
Actually, it would appear that the ones who are "afraid" of differing views
are not the opponents of reform but its supporters, including the president.
The supporters of reform, and note that Pelosi and Hoyer likewise engaged in
the subtle shift in language, understand too well that, in this debate,
knowledge is power.

The people have the power, and people are coming to these town hall meetings
armed with knowledge about what the bill that has been reported out of three
House committees says, what the rules and bureaucracies it would create do,
and the impact that it would have on their own healthcare. And they are
coming to these meetings knowing what government-mandated health insurance
has done to healthcare in Massachusetts and how rationing and wait times
affect access to essential services in places like Canada. Meanwhile, there
are too many members of Congress coming to these meetings who have not even
promised to read the bill before voting on it.
-------------------------------------------------------------

Democrats Flip Focus of Healthcare Debate, But It's Too Little, Too Late
August 11, 2009 01:46 PM ET | Peter Roff | Permanent Link | Print By Peter
Roff, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

President Barack Obama got some much needed good news this week when the
U.S. Department of Labor reported unemployment was down for the first time
in more than a year.

The spike in joblessness had been in stark contrast in the vaunted rhetoric
surrounding the stimulus package, which the White House promised would end
the recession and put America back to work. If July 2009 unemployment
figures are the beginning of a trend, then the stimulus may finally be
working-albeit after a recession that lasted almost three times as long as
the postwar average before the recovery started.

The president's popularity, which has plummeted from the unsustainable
levels it reached as he came into office, remains near 50 percent-but his
agenda is far less popular. Which is probably why, as part of the healthcare
reboot triggered by the August congressional recess, the White House began
taking about government-backed healthcare reform and the public option as an
improvement over the service many Americans receive from their private
insurance companies, which are about as popular as the IRS. By talking about
something people don't like-having to deal with private insurance
bureaucracies-rather than something they do like-like the healthcare their
receive from their doctor and at their local hospital-the president's
advisers are hoping to change the tone and focus of the debate.

It's a subtle shift, noticeable in the tone of the opening paragraph of an
E-mail sent on "White House" letterhead by presidential adviser David
Axelrod Sunday that began, "Anyone that's watched the news in the past few
days knows that health insurance reform is a hot topic-and that rumors and
scare tactics have only increased as more people engage with the issue.
Given a lot of the outrageous claims floating around, it's time to make sure
everyone knows the facts about the security and stability you get with
health insurance reform."

Note that Axelrod talks about "health insurance reform" rather than
"healthcare reform." It's part of the White House's new strategy to
establish in the public's mind that anyone who opposes Obama's healthcare
initiative is really defending the insurance companies.

And if that had been the game plan from the start, it might have worked, but
the tenor of the town hall meetings, which Speaker Nancy Pelosi of
California and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland labeled
"un-American" in a jointly signed op-ed for Monday's USA Today, suggests the
redirection is too little, too late.

"It is now evident that an ugly campaign is underway not merely to
misrepresent the health insurance reform legislation, but to disrupt public
meetings and prevent members of Congress and constituents from conducting a
civil dialogue," the two Democrats wrote. "These disruptions are occurring
because opponents are afraid not just of differing views-but of the facts
themselves. Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American."

Actually, it would appear that the ones who are "afraid" of differing views
are not the opponents of reform but its supporters, including the president.
The supporters of reform, and note that Pelosi and Hoyer likewise engaged in
the subtle shift in language, understand too well that, in this debate,
knowledge is power.

The people have the power, and people are coming to these town hall meetings
armed with knowledge about what the bill that has been reported out of three
House committees says, what the rules and bureaucracies it would create do,
and the impact that it would have on their own healthcare. And they are
coming to these meetings knowing what government-mandated health insurance
has done to healthcare in Massachusetts and how rationing and wait times
affect access to essential services in places like Canada. Meanwhile, there
are too many members of Congress coming to these meetings who have not even
promised to read the bill before voting on it.

Pelosi and Hoyer, and those who echo their sentiments, are wrong in the way
they characterize the dissent being expressed at these meeting. It is, in
fact, all too American. What is "un-American" is the dishonest and
disingenuous way Pelosi, Hoyer, and their allies are trying to shut off the
debate.