What to say about President Obama's speech?
I just watched it this morning, Paris time (it was on at 3am last night over here). It was fine. I wasn't blown away. I wasn't horribly disappointed. He spoke well. He gave some details. He gave a price tag. He promised to be tough. All good.
Many of the pundits I've read this morning are saying that the speech was exactly what Obama needed to do. I think that's premature.
(Though I do think the Republican member's outburst "Lie!" was probably the most effective part of the entire evening - should the White House take advantage of it. I fear, however, that they won't. Someone advising Obama has likely already said "the media is handling it just fine without our help." The media never handles it just fine without your help. Bimbo eruptions are always fed from the outside, usually by the GOP since they understand the game. Democrats need to learn the art of PR, the art of creating and fanning explosions in the media that help to assure victory, and stop relying on the media to do our job for us. /rant)
Obama's problem won't be solved by a speech, though it can be solved by his actions. Currently, the Republicans think that Obama is a pushover. That he's someone who sometimes makes strong claims publicly, but who will back down at the first sign of trouble, at the first sign of opposition, because he is constitutionally averse to conflict. That perception won't be refuted by a speech promising to take on the lies, promising to take on the insurance industry, and promising to fight to the end to make things better for all Americans.
The only way for President Obama to kill the growing perception that he is a "wimp" is for the President to actually do something to follow through on these promises. Here's how...
Start responding to the lies forcefully and promptly. Start standing up to the special interests, rather than letting their number one senator (Max Baucus) be your chief negotiator (and his former chief of staff be your number two aide in the White House), and rather than cutting secret backroom deals with big Pharma to permit them to continue charging Americans ridiculously inflated prices for drugs. And start leaning on members of Congress, Democrat and Republican, to support the health care promises you made during the campaign, rather than permitting them to lean on you.
This last point is crucial. If the President takes a tabula rasa approach to health care reform - meaning, everything he's said before no longer counts, but what he says now "boy does he mean it" - then per se the Republicans and the Blue Dogs and the insurance industry will roll him again. You can't tell people to believe in your promises today after you've told them to ignore your promises of yesterday.
I want to believe. But our President has pulled the football away one too many times. Barack Obama needs to prove that he's a man of his word. And he needs to prove that he has guts. I'm happy to keep an open mind. The next few weeks will speak volumes.
What were your reactions, now that you've slept on it?
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