Democrats see Obama health care message backfire

LA Times:

Democratic strategists say the Obama administration's evolving, abstract arguments for healthcare reform are backfiring and contributing to a decline in public support for the legislation.

The strategists, many of whom saw healthcare reform fail in the Clinton administration, contend that President Obama has advanced too many rationales for his plan, leaving people confused.

For example, Obama has argued that a new healthcare system is necessary to spur an economic recovery. He also has offered up healthcare as an antidote to rising deficits. Earlier this week in a conference call with religious leaders, Obama laid out a "moral" imperative for revamping the nation's healthcare system.

At other points, Obama has portrayed "meddling" insurers as a reason for scrapping the existing system.

"One of the difficulties has been that the explanation has changed," said Howard Paster, a legislative liaison in the Clinton administration. "Originally it was keyed very much to the economy. More recently, emphasis has been placed on issues of fairness and equity. We need to have a consistent set of reasons for doing this."

Conservative opponents of the overhaul increasingly use a simple, understandable message: Government-forced cost reductions will restrict treatments, imperiling the ill and elderly.

To counter that, the case needs to be made in personal terms, some Democrats have advised. Rather than talk about healthcare's relation to fiscal policy, the White House should demonstrate how specific constituencies -- like the elderly -- stand to gain under the plan Obama has championed.

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It is hard to convince the elderly that they will gain from a program that is looking for cost savings by cutting back on programs the elderly depend on. It was Democrats who said they would find cost savings from these programs to extend care to uninsured. Republicans did not make that up.

In fairness to Obama, the reasons for the change of message has been the fact that the original arguments were not working. They have since been floundering to find one that will work. They are still looking. The latest explanation for their problems is that those rejecting them believe myths. This argument will not work either. The fact is the Democrats have lost the voters on this issue, but they are too stubborn to back down so they will try to cram down a deal and further alienate voters.