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Remind Us Who We're Fighting For
What are we even arguing about again?
Though the volume of the health-care debate has never been louder, it has never been more silent on what really matters to the real lives and real struggles of everyday Americans.
During the campaign, President Obama and his team were geniuses at keeping an even keel and steadily pushing on a single narrative -- hope -- that was both powerful and flexible. But during the health-care fight, they have been unfocused. Of course, it's hard to have a consistent message when you're bargaining with 535 potential legislative partners at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue (not to mention the dozens of TV and radio hosts who wield inordinate power in the modern media landscape).
Obama must take a step back and remind all Americans why we need to reform health care in the first place.
He needs to fill a town hall with people who have faced death or bankruptcy because of insufficient insurance or no insurance at all. Participants shouldn't be hard to find -- all of us have friends or neighbors or family members who have faced this harsh reality (or just go to Andrew Sullivan's site where he has spent the past several weeks collecting dozens of heartbreaking "Views from Your Sickbed")
Obama is a master of policy detail and -- If he weren't so politically savvy -- would have made a terrific technocrat. But he must stress the big picture here.
We all know the health-care system is broken. We all know dealing with insurance companies is a maddening, often-frightening task. And we all know people will die needlessly unless we get some kind of reform now.
We need Obama to remind us of this fact. Every day. Every hour. The real pain of real Americans needs to become the center of this debate again, not the pitched voices of ill-informed mobs.
By
Angela Glover Blackwell
|
August 25, 2009; 12:50 PM ET
| Category:
Health Care Reform
,
Presidential leadership
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Posted by: agapn9 | August 27, 2009 10:53 AM
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The townhalls have been effective when a medical expert who is articulate and tough skinned is used - Howard Dean at Reston took over and lit the place up - the dynamics radically changed - questions were answered - things made sense - and people were reasured that the Obama administration was in control - but without a Dean these meetings will continue to be dominated by the nut jobs.