Why would Obama say this?

[jtuck004]

Barack Obama is beyond good with words. He is a craftsman and uses them in his oratory like any any painter who wants to touch a soul. His speech is stirring, and it motivates people. They remember his words.

So I sat up straight when I heard Obama, at 10:20 a.m Pacific Standard Time today, say "Now, there are some folks who wanted to scrap the system of private insurance and replace it with a government-run health care program..."

Say what? Why _those_ words? He could have said "there are those who cannot support a public plan today", or just trumpet the benefits some see in the bill currently being finalized.

Other than shrill opposition pundits on late-nite television I have heard no thoughtful person say we should "scrap" private health care. What was proposed was a competitive public plan, in which insurance cos are free to compete with reasonable rates and outcomes. To say "government-run health care program" sounds very similar to the complaints of the teabaggers who insist that the Democrats want to "take over the hospitals and doctors and tell them what to do". To say government-run health "care" instead of government health "insurance" are two very different things. And he knows darn well they are.

Why does this master of speech, one who "owns" any podium and nearly any audience he speaks to find it necessary to deliberatly use the frame and wording of the Republicans, (his opponents?) to speak against the idea? I did some googling and he has repeated this phrse at every stop in his "push" toward passing what passes for health care reform.

Is he sending a signal that not only is any thought of a public plan dead, but that he will actively work against it? Is he just so desperate to pass something that he will go to any lengths to do so? Such words coming from him could well be the equivalent of putting any idea of a public option in the ground and throwing dirt on it. That line is made to order for any future opposition to a public plan.

I might be overreacting, but I have too much respect for his skills to think he doesn't spend an incredible amount of time and deliberately use every word and phrase in every speech to make sure it gets across the point he wants.

[babylonsister]

1. Please find the context/transcript, because sometimes it does

matter what prefaces a sentence and what is said after to make sense of anything.

[DesertFlower]

2. i remember at the start of HCR, he

said something like we couldn't have the kind of health care that other countries have because it would be too hard to do.

[monmouth]

3. I took that as his speaking to repub obstructionists...n/t

[jtuck004]

4. Sorry, meant to put this in General Discussion

[Starry Messenger]

5. You're more likely to get honest answers from the regulars in here, however. n/t

[TheWraith]

6. Obvious, isn't it?

He wants to debunk the idea that the current bill IS a government takeover of healthcare.

[tbyg52]

7. A *real* public option *would* eventually kill the corporate vultures.

Can't have that, now, can we......?

[jtuck004]

8. It's the only thing that ever will n/t

[readmoreoften]

9. It was just one song.

Master of Triangulation.