Obama’s health care media blitz can’t save his ‘plan’
Then President-elect Obama appears on NBC's Meet the Press in December 2008 (Scott Olson/Getty Images for Meet the Press)
Based on polling trends during the past six months, here’s a prediction: Obama’s TV talk show media blitz this Sunday morning will have limited, if any, impact on staunching the hemorrhaging of support for his health care plan.
Indeed, there seems to be an iron law at work here: the more Obama speaks about the Democrats’ plan to take over our health care sector, the more support for his radical plan erodes.
Prior to his addressing the nation from the well of the House, billed by many as his last best chance to sway a skeptical public, Obama had already addressed the health care issue publicly some 122 times. Yet, in the wake of his unprecedented speech to a joint session of Congress to bolster his sagging poll numbers, the modest bounce he received proved to be ephemeral. Support for Obamacare not only quickly returned to its pre-speech levels, it actually dropped even further.
Obama is the most over-exposed president in modern American political history. A weary public, craving a respite from the media saturation of all Obama, all the time, long ago tuned him out. In this regard Obama, would be well served to embrace the counter-intuitive maxim that less is more. Yet, since he suffers the delusion of believing that his soothing voice can conquer all, the media blitz goes on. Edward Lucas, writing in the Telegraph seems to state the self-evident, “Mr Obama’s public image rests increasingly heavily on his extraordinary speechifying abilities.”
Yet in the end, it will all be for nought. Many Americans have already concluded that Obama doesn’t have a health care plan, indeed, he never has. His “plan”, has always been to see how much mischief the Congressional left wing of his party can get away with.
Supremely self-assured in his insufferable belief that he is somehow a mythical and transcendent political figure, as his ideological allies overreached, he has remained throughout the fractious health care debate, utterly detached from the process, uninvolved — above the fray.
Responding to the resulting — and predictable — fury of public reaction, he then, like a prophet, swoops down from above, playing the role of the great reconciliator, the exemplar of the golden mean between the squabbling partisan extremes, as he reassures the skeptical with his soothing and therapeutic rhetoric. One moment insisting on a public option; the next, comforting the disaffected with his assurances that it is not necessary after all, as it is only one of many means to achieve a desirable end.
As evidenced by the multitude of conflicting health care messages emanating from not only the White House, but from the Speaker of the House, is it any wonder that many Americans are confused about Obama’s health care “plan”?
The problem for Obama is that the mystique, the exultation, is gone forever. Having badly squandered his credibility with the disastrous, extravagant and pork-laden stimulus bill, in the words of George Will, “His incessant talking cannot combat what it has caused: An increasing number of Americans do not believe that he believes what he says.”
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After the right wing’s loss of credibilty over the death panel issue, the tide has turned in the White House’s favor. Now all the president has to do is finish them off. It shouldn’t be too hard. After all, most of those vocally opposed to this bill on the right will be out there signing up for it after they find out how much money they will save.
Mr. Kinsellagh,
Let me first say that this is one your better postings from a technical perspective. It reads much more smoothly than others of yours I have read, it is much more to the point, and is not too long.
As to content, I always found before writing anything, I consult the logia of America’s greatest philosopher, Yogi Berra. As he wisely notes “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future”. However, ones odds of success depend at least in part on giving the facts a hard look. Here is where I think your posting fails. As with several previous of your postings, you have linked to another cite to bolster your claims. In this case you wrote..”Prior to his addressing the nation from the well of the House, billed by many as his last best chance to sway a skeptical public, Obama had already addressed the health care issue publicly some 122 times. Yet, in the wake of his unprecedented speech to a joint session of Congress to bolster his sagging poll numbers, the modest bounce he received proved to be ephemeral. Support for Obamacare not only quickly returned to its pre-speech levels, it actually dropped even further.” Here you link to the Rasmussen Report to support the claim that the public’s support for Mr. Obama’s health care reform effort has dropped since the speech. However what the linked page actually says is..
“But the overall picture remains one of stability. While the numbers have bounced a bit following nationally televised appearances by the president to promote the plan, opposition has generally stayed above 50% since early July. Support has been in the low to mid 40s.
The number who Strongly Oppose the plan has remained above 40% and the Strongly Favor totals have been in the mid-20s. This suggests public opinion is hardening when it comes to the plan that is currently working its way through Congress.”
The linked story actually contradicts your prediction. While the health care reform effort may indeed fail for want of public support, the page you linked would suggest that public support has not dropped over any recent period. Wise indeed is the Yogi.
Great, now we can focus on the Republican plan that all Americans will support.
Mandatory enrollment in a private plan, if you cannot afford it you get a government takes tax money and gives it to the insurance industry, if you buy outside of employer plans you get a limit of $5000 to spend no matter what the monthly cost, limits on malpractice and cross border companies to increase mergers, no sorry increase competition and bypass state consumer laws. All at a cost of what, exactly?
Or leave it all alone because there is no problem.
And he’s not even a legal president
In 1981, what passport did Obama use to travel to Pakistan?
In 1981, Pakistan was on the U.S. State Department’s “no travel” list and Obama could not have used a US passport to travel to Pakistan. If he used a British passport, it would mean that he was born in Kenya. Because Obama’s stepfather that adopted him was Indonesian and both his mother and him became Indonesian citizens themselves, a country that did not allow dual citizenships, if he used an Indonesian passport, it would raise even more questions that the American people need answers to. Then there is the question of forgery. Watch these videos and form you own opinion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA6_k3NtXZs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMSZQfvqKcI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBgkDSw-wQ0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I_-ATxzyiM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe2bpV1QlkE
Cybercorresponden
http://cybercorrespondent.blogspot.com
Mr. K: I thought your posting was clear and accurate, devoid of any personal slant. Written in the style of reporters from years gone by. I also found it interesting that the first three comments all took issue with your position. Libs who are offended that you question their savior. You stand out on this blog like a man alone on an island. While it may seem lonely where you sit, know that there are readers who appreciate honest unbiased postings. Hang tough.
joelisi: Thanks for your comments. As one of two conservatives residing in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I am used to fighting a rear guard action…
Glad to have you as a reader.
In response to another comment. See in context »I once interviewed for a job in Massachusetts and one of the interviewers told me, “Republicans? We don’t have many of those here.” Having grown up in Georgia, it was really an experience.
In response to another comment. See in context »Supremely self-assured in his insufferable belief that he is somehow a mythical and transcendent political figure….
Hmm. I seriously doubt Obama views himself as a mythical figure.
I can accept that you think Obama’s belief in himself is insufferable; I can accept your assertion that Obama sees himself as a transcendent political figure; but I can’t accept your claim that Obama believes himself to be mythical, unless you’re alleging some sort of psychiatric disorder. Are you?
This is great news, for John McCain.
Comments from fellow bloggers about Obama’s passport
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBgkDSw-wQ0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA6_k3NtXZs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMSZQfvqKcI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I_-ATxzyiM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe2bpV1QlkE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMflgpD-xfw
Suggest you go look up US State Department Travel Advisory for Pakistan in 1981, No. 81-33A
http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/ERC/travel/cis/southasia/TA_Pakistan1981.pdf
by deport
The key issue is that in 1981 Obama was in the US as a foreign student, with a scholarship that is reserved for foreign students exclusively, therefore he did not have a US passport because he wasn’t a US citizen. He still isn’t.
by meadsjn
Didn’t the Chosen One say that he never had a passport until he was elected to the US Senate? When Barry was 9 or 10 years old, his mother needed a way to get him back to Hawaii from Indonesia after it became abundantly clear her marriage to Lolo Soetoro was failing. His mother was associated with the Ford Foundation, an NGO, and knew of the work they did overseas. Consequently, Barry was identified as an orphan or abandoned Indonesian child with a grandmother in Hawaii. Once his grandmother in Hawaii was confirmed, the NGO, was able to obtained refugee status for Barry and expedited refugee travel papers from the US State Department. Barry was able to use the refugee travel papers to travel the world without a passport. And one more point, that makes Barry an Indonesian Refugee and not a US Citizen.
by SvenMagnussen
0bamas’ hidden records: Why are these off limits?
1 Certified copy of original birth certificate
2 Columbia University transcripts
3 Columbia thesis paper
4 Campaign donor analysis requested by 7 major watchdog groups
5 Harvard University transcripts
6 Illinois State Senate records
7 Illinois State Senate schedule
8 Law practice client list and billing records/summary
9 Locations and names of all half-siblings and step-mother
10 Medical records (only the one page summary released so far)
11 Occidental College Transcripts
12 Parent’s marriage Certificate
13 Record of baptism
14 Selective Service registration records
15 Schedules for trips outside of the United States before 2007
16 Passport records for all passports
17 Scholarly articles
18 SAT and LSAT test scores
19 Access to his grandmother in Kenya
20 List of all campaign workers that are lobbyists
21 Punahou grade school records
22 Noelani Kindergarten records are oddly missing from the the State of Hawaii Department of Education.
Anyone who cares about their country would be very concerned that a POTUS had hidden every scrap of information of his life that he possibly could.
by TigersEye
Do you have an antidote for the Obama elixir as prescribed by George Soros and the far left? As shown in this video, I wish we had more congressmen like John Hue Pubic who read what he was asked to sign. Watch -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB6p5QPVhPI, but don’t swallow the elixir. After you finish watching the video, ask yourselves these questions.
Why are the public officials we elleted allowing Obama to shred our Constitution? Do you think Obama should remake the health care system with new federal regulations, mandates and big-government? Do you think that taking money from the productive sector of our society and distributing it to the nonproductive will solve all of our problems? Why is congress and other politicians dooing nothing about the Obama czars and other communist- fashist appointees he chose to assist him in shreding our constitution?
Cybercorrespondent
http://cybercorrespondent.blogspot.com