Obama losing the upper hand in health care debate

[Better Believe It]

Obama losing the upper hand in health care debate
By Carolyn Lochhead, San Francisco Chronicle Washington Bureau
August 13, 2009

A president famous for his campaign skills has let the opposition define the debate on health care reform, the central issue of his party and his presidency.

As Democrats faced raucous town halls across the nation this week, President Obama labored to squelch doubts about draft health legislation rather than tout its virtues.

"Obama has lost control of the debate, and when that happens, it's over," said health care consultant Robert Laszewski. "The well's been poisoned."

Distortions by conservative activists "have spread like wildfire," said Laszewski, president of Health Policy and Strategy Associates, a Washington consulting firm. "You've got middle Americans scared to death." Activists "start the brushfire, and since there's no one credible in the middle, no 15 Republican Senators to stand up and say it's not true, it takes on a life of its own."

Obama's stumbles have magnified the challenge. His claim this week that the American Association of Retired Persons had endorsed Democratic legislation provoked a denial from the powerful senior lobby. Last month, he created a huge distraction just as he was trying to execute his health-reform sales pitch by blundering into the controversy over the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.

For all Obama's campaign eloquence on change, the town hall protests this week have tapped into people's fear of change. Obama and his staff, meanwhile, have focused on wonky details such as the effect of health care costs on the federal budget.

Please read the complete article at:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/13/MNGA197JML.DTL&type=politics&tsp=1



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/13/MNGA197JML.DTL&type=politics&tsp=1#ixzz0O7EpOzSO

[Sarah Ibarruri]

1. Do you believe this article? I don't. I think it's the media's propaganda and the

15 GOP-sponsored KKKers being bussed from townhall to townhall to make it seem there are millions involved in protest.

[AlinPA]

17. Yes, I believe it. He was trying to be "bipartisan" and republicans got more ugly. The media

ran with it. The TV decides who wins the "debate". The slobs are winning.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

24. I don't. I think there are 15 GOP-sponsored KKKers being bussed from townhall to townhall

And the media is supporting the insurance companies.

And the insurance companies don't want to lose their monster profits.

[AlinPA]

30. Media won't report any positives of the town hall meetings. It is getting

worse and turning more violent (according to the broadcast media). I hope you are right about not losing the upper hand, but now there is concern about the president's safety with all those drooling rightwingers going crazy.

[alcibiades_mystery]

18. Better believe It believes EVERY negative article about Obama, period

Poor baby is still mad that Obama won the presidency fair and square, so he hangs around here posting negative Obama shite 10 hours a day. A class-A loser.

[Mojorabbit]

40. I believe it

because the middle of the road people I know are now very iffy on the plan. The scare tactics have worked, even when debunked there is an uneasiness that remains with he people I know. He needs to get control of the debate and quickly. I think it can still be done.

[firedupdem]

2. It's not lost...believe that! n/t

[jenmito]

3. Better not Believe It. n/t

[dionysus]

36. you bitter belie-- er better believe it!

[d_b]

4. we're screwn!1

[geckosfeet]

5. Not quite.

[Phx_Dem]

6. Well we'll just see about that when it comes up for a vote. n/t

[zulchzulu]

7. Obama will never win Iowa because he's black

Yeah... I remember that shit.

[Cha]

11. And, he'll never be president because

it's not his time, etc, etc..yeah, I rememeber all the little handwringers on that all that chickenshit:scared::scared:

[SpartanDem]

8. No thanks to the media's shitty job of covering the issue

the media has largely has focused on the political wrangling rather than policy.

[Better Believe It]

10. What is President Obama's healthcare plan? Does he have one? The specifics.

Spell out President Obama's proposed legislation in a laypersons terms.

Without knowing what it represents, the details, it's very hard for healthcare reform advocates to campaign for it.

So let's get serious now.

Cute and flippant remarks won't solve the problem.

You don't think there is a problem?

If so, you haven't been following this issue.

[SpartanDem]

20. In layman terms

The government would require everyone to buy insurance, it would set minimum benefit levels and limits on yearly expenses. Depending income level and family size it would subsidized by the government and create a government run insurance plan that would be self sustaining.

[DatManFromNawlins]

27. Can that even pass constitutional muster?

The government has the right to enact a tax which would pay for a health insurance plan, but does it have the power to force Americans to purchase a product from a corporation, either public or private?

Even if the government institutes a penalty as a tax, per se, it would still be forcing Americans to enter into a contract with an entity. You're talking a multitude of constitutional amendments here that it would have to be reviewed against.

I have a feeling that if that bill passes as I understand it, it may take years or even a decade or more before we get through all the legal challenges.

[SpartanDem]

29. They do with car insurance

[Sarah Ibarruri]

23. Are you a Republican trying to pass as a Democrat in here? nt

[rocktivity]

9. He has not yet begun to fight.

Grassley is the one who's stumbled by contradicting his stand on end-of-life counseling. I would have agreed with this story 24 hours ago, but the ball is back in Obama's court. By the way, whose side is this "health consultant" on?

:headbang:
rocktivity

[nevergiveup]

12. How much ad revenue does the San Fransisco Chronicle

earn yearly from insurance and pharmaceutical companies? Obama is fighting the pharmaceutical, insurance and health care industries and the Republicans and the press. He and a small number of liberal Democrats are all alone in this fight.

[Better Believe It]

15. President Obama is fighting the very industries he's cutting deals with?

I think a small number of liberal House Democrats have been abandoned by President Obama and many Democratic Senators.

Just ask them.

[Baltoman991]

28. What complete

utter bullshit you spew.

Obama has abandoned no one. If anything, he's the one being left out to dry by the so called majority.

I've asked before and I'll ask again, why don't you drop the fucking charade and quite pretending to be a progressive, Democrat or Liberal. You're nothing but a fucking parrot for the right wing with the bullshit you post.

[barbiegeek]

13. We have just started to Fight

[barbiegeek]

14. If they say we've lost enough, then people will believe it

[jefferson_dem]

16. zzzz.... Henny Penny strikes again.

[RBInMaine]

19. FUCKING CORPORATE MEDIA PROPAGANDA BULLSHIT ! DON'T FUCKING READ IT !

[muntrv]

21. If so, MSM is the reason why.

[Thrill]

22. I never see any Democrats in Congress out there fighting with him.

[TheKentuckian]

25. At this point we aren't even talking a bill. We are pretty much just discussing the binary choice of

reform or status quo.

These screamers are demanding we do NOTHING and are raging against any government intervention.

There isn't a bill in the universe they would react sanely to that comes from the Democrats. The opposition is be over-thought entirely. Please stop pretending that the opposition can be reasoned with if only one does A, B, C because what they are demanding is we just keep going until we're at 50% GDP on healthcare and the whole system crashes along with the Federal government.

THERE IS NO MAGIC APPROACH OR PLAN!!! Those things just help pace the shit storm a little. What we go for just tells them whether to spend a couple hundred million or a billion plus to oppose it. Same goes with the mouthbreathers and the RNC.

[leftofthedial]

26. almost like he planned it that way...

[dionysus]

35. yeah, he's a GOP plant

jesus christ on a pogo stick...

[leftofthedial]

37. the corporations don't need "GOP" plants

when the "democrats" do their bidding.

[cleveramerican]

31. Its slipping away

Its not too late to pull it out of the fire
But something dramatic has to happen soon.

[Dinger]

32. So The Corporate Media $ay$

Whatever

[babylonsister]

33. You posted a negative article about Obama? Say it isn't so! Shocked,

I say!

[dionysus]

34. i think you need to change your pampers.

[bevoette]

38. this is JUST LIKE THE ELECTION

the handwringing, the 'oh noes!', the 'he's finished'

i did it myself again and again, until around mid-October, i just realized that every time i thought the American public was just too uninformed, misinformed, prejudiced and yes, even stupid...they shocked me. it happened over and over and over.


and look what happened :)

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

39. Funny how this was almost the exact same headline as the Washington Post

this week. It's bullshit!! :)

[LittleBlue]

41. Don't know why this is being unrecommended. It's pretty obvious real healthcare reform is DOA

now that even Conrad is voting against the public option.

Instead we'll get all private options, ie the insurance shell game. And that's assuming this thing will ever pass.

[CreekDog]

43. Even Kent Conrad? He's always been against it

come on.

[CreekDog]

42. you like printing columns by conservative Republicans?

i know you consider yourself savvy and all.

[DevonRex]

44. BBI will post any anti-Obama article no matter who writes it.

[CreekDog]

45. and anti-Dalai Lama/anti-Tibet articles too

take a look. :think: