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Home » 2009 » September » 4 » President Obama needs to provide us with answers during his pivotal speech on health care
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President Obama needs to provide us with answers during his pivotal speech on health care


WASHINGTON - Having already hitched his presidency's wellness to health care,Barack Obama has now raised the stakes yet again.

His Wednesday prime-time speech to Congress aims to recapture the momentum he and his handlers squandered over the summer - and rehabilitate his own political credibility.

Obama insiders know the double-down speech is more about reasserting the President's authority than a desperate bid to revive health care reform from life support.

In fact, inside the Beltway, even die-hard Republican opponents recognize a bill of some kind is all but certain to pass Congress this fall. Though it will likely be less than Obama wants, he'll reap some credit. What it won't do is cure all that ails Obama.

As his sagging poll numbers demonstrate, Obama's public standing was shredded over the summer. His July press conference, designed to jawbone Congress to act by the August recess, fizzled badly.

As legislation languished and Congress went home, an impassioned minority hijacked the debate, booing their senators and congressmen at town hall meetings. By the time he himself managed a brief vacation, Obama was on the political defensive.

In some ways, he's still playing D - especially with House liberals who are clamoring for a more comprehensive reform package and think Obama should be doing more.

"His aides don't want him criticized for not doing enough to get a stronger bill," said a Democratic source who consults frequently with the White House.

Obama's main purpose in addressing a joint congressional session, however, is to reclaim the moral imperative and the public's trust. He's striving to become what one Democrat calls "the decisive engine" in shaping the debate in the next few critical weeks.

The moment is ripe for a rousing populist speech with a pinch of demagoguery sprinkled in for dramatic impact. Aides know that Obama's professorial briefs, skillfully marshaled to win an argument, will be less effective than a dose of moral indignation.

In effect, he has to tell the death-panel fringe, profiteering insurers, professional haters, timid Democrats and obstructionist Republicans: time to knock it off - people are hurting.

"Who wants to be the ones defending corporations who deny people coverage for preexisting conditions and other outrages?" a Democratic operative observed. "He needs to concentrate on the three or four things that make everyone's blood boil."

Focusing on health care horrors, his aides believe, can shore up conservative Democrats and perhaps entice a few moderate Republicans to sign on.

In crafting his appeal, Obama has the luxury of ignoring Republican lawmakers. They've opted out, eagerly counting their gains in next fall's midterm elections.

But he has to find a middle course that blunts the summer's town hall fury and doesn't cost his party House seats in November of next year.

It's a tricky proposition. Aides are convinced Obama will prevail, even as they acknowledge the downside risk of failure.

"The danger is, he does this and the numbers don't move," said one Obama strategist. "Then he looks weak."

Or worse: irrelevant.

Category: U.S. | Views: 580 | Added by: magictr | Tags: health care, President Obama | Rating: 0.0/0
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