Stating The Obvious

BocaGuy: It's time to get tough!


distributorcap NY

TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2009

Here is the obvious - the Health Care Reform debate has gotten away from President Obama. It is as if he opened Pandora's box, but instead of only the ills of the world's escaping - he let the lunatics out of their padded cells and completely take over the asylum.

I don't know if it was hubris, arrogance, laziness or just plain ignorance that allowed Obama - who proved during the campaign that he understood clarity of message and control of the data flow better than any politician in a generation - to let one of the most crucial piece of his platform fall into such disarray.

The mistakes have been so numerous and so damaging (egged along by a media that enjoyed watching this twist in the wind), I don't think it can be rescusitated into anything other than a Pyrrhic victory - a victory his team can celebrate and the rest of the country will eventually end up regretting.

So Mr. Obama, my ideas - I think it might be too late - but you might want to consider. Remember this is a country that buys bottled tap water.

1. Finally get into your skulls that the combination of Republican crook Richard Nixon and Republican moron Ronald Reagan really made a lot of people - including some people considered liberal/progressive - not trust hate the government. 35 years after Nixon and 20 years after Reagan, the country has not forgotten the criminal activity of 37th President and the disdain shown to federal activity by the 40th. Hating the government is a whole cottage industry.
   
2. Job #1 - assume your audience is stupid. Never indicate they are, but assume they are. Explain and give examples. Never get mad at them, but allow yourself to actually get mad at the opposition. But always assume the public really doesn't understand what you are trying to do.
3. Hold the party to one message. It seems every leading Democrat said something different, then would change their minds and then would disagree with another Democrat. Even someone like myself, who supports this reform, found the whole message process ridiculously confusing and extremely inconsistent. Again egged on by the media - the spokesmen for reform fell right into the "media loves theater" trap and let the media call the shots. As bad as Bush was in everything he did, the one thing his administration mastered was staying on message - an evil and vile message, but a consistent one.
4. The message HAS to be something along the lines of "you need this," not "We want to do this for you." There is a big difference. That is how Bush/Rove sold the war - "we have to go to war," not "we want to go to war."
   
5. There are way too many spokespeople, way too many egos, and way too many chiefs. Obama, Conrad, Baucus, Sibelius etc. Then as the message got muddled more people spoke out - Wiener, Feingold, Blue Dogs, etc. One or two people should have been the point people - appearing on every media outlet and being the voice and brains of the plan. Let the opposition have too many voices. Obama should have picked his messengers and said to the rest of the party - defer to them and say nothing else. The perfect two would have been Howard Dean and Kathleen Sibelius. Everyone else would just say, "Mr. Dean will comment on that, or Ms. Sibelius has the details." or they would say nothing. Problem is Rahm Emanuel hates Dean and the rest of the Democrats just love air time too much.
6. You should have thought about the title, you would be surprised how critical this is. From day one it should have been calledHealth Finance Reform. Never say Health care reform - sounds too much like actual medical procedures would be subject to legislative fiat, when it really is just about the money side - finance, payments and costs. And once they started with the right title - NO Democrat should ever call it anything other than Health Finance Reform. This one small step would have saved an incredible amount of tsoris.
7. Make the plan simple and short - just like a resume - one page only. Make a plan that is easy to describe to the millions of brain damaged folks in this country - you know the ones that would actually vote for Sarah Palin or actually believe there would be forced euthanasia. Anyone who believes that these Death Panels were on the 'docket' belongs in asylum. When you have a portion of the population that fails to understand their own stupidity - you need to not only make the message clear, but simple and short. The 1,000 page (or so) bill that appeared only made matters worse - it makes even the smarter people suspicious of hidden and buried "treasures." As awful as the "Contract of America" was in its content, it was brilliant it is simplicity and terseness. That is exactly what Obama should have rolled out - a plan even a Sarah Palin lover could understand.
8. Stop making everything that comes out of the White House look like it is a campaign for 2012. This sure did to me.
9. Never stop talking about Medicare and Veteran's health care being government programs. Force the Republicans who do not want government run health financing to state what they would do with Medicare and the VA. Do not relent on this. Exposing hypocrisy is probably the most valuable tool in the arsenal - and for some reason the Democrats are just loath (or don't know how) to use it.
10. Understand that the entire media is NOT on your side and proceed from there. Even the "liberal" media would rather have fights and battles for good theater, rather than an honest and open (and boring) conversation for good legislation. From what I see - virtually every politician would rather participate in Battle of the Network Politicians than actually make policy.
11. Never stop taking about how that Joe the Plumber and Jane the Ignorant Slut would save money with a low overhead and less expensive public option. Whether you get the public option is almost irrelevant - it more important that the people not hate the public option that actually have one. It is all about perception.
12. Not only make the plan simple and have a clear message - but how about having real conversations. The amount of sidestepping and euphemistic language that was used would make George Orwell proud. I actually think Obama was afraid to broach some subjects - for fear of offending potential 2012 voters (see above). As stupid as I think many Americans are, there are millions who are intelligent and actually appreciate more plain and honest language. For example - instead of letting the Death Panel accusations take a life on of its own - the Dean/Sibelius team could have educated those same people about the true cost of keeping people alive in the final months.
13. Understand that Americans really hate change and really like to be entertained. The media made this a circus because they need to sell soap. Americans made this a fiasco because any change to them means disruption. Even if the disruption will actually benefit them, it means disruption.
14. It is actually OK to have some policies that might seem socialist - and you shouldn't be embarrassed by that. Remind people that - Medicare, the police, the fire dept, the highways, the military, the sewers, FEMA, the National Institute of Health, their free Swine Flu shots, etc. are all socialist.
15. And finally please stop thinking the Republicans will work with you - they won't - even if it is to the country's advantage. The GOP is Butch to your Spanky and Alfalfa. The Republicans have only one point in their entire playbook or platform - defeat Democrats at all costs. They simply could give a rat's ass about anything else. Stop taking their dangling carrot. If you walk away from them once - they might actually come running to you for some cover.

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