WASHINGTON – President Obama’s campaign for the White House was widely hailed for its ability to stick to a script. But as prospects for the passage of health care reform become murkier, and a backlash among liberal Democrats becomes louder, even some of Obama’s strongest supporters are suggesting that his discipline has slipped.
In recent weeks, Obama has delivered mixed messages that have bogged down the debate and sapped momentum from his top domestic priority.
He distracted attention during his own prime-time press conference last month on health care when he stated that Cambridge police acted “stupidly’’ when they arrested Henry Louis Gates Jr., which dominated the news for a week. He took several days to directly rebut charges that the health plan included “death panels’’ that would determine end-of-life care. This week, he and his top aides appeared to waver on the importance of creating a government-run plan to compete with private insurers.
Republicans, meanwhile, have stepped into the void of the August congressional recess and, in a page taken directly from Obama’s 2008 playbook, are using a combination of online organization and message-of-the-day discipline to frame the legislation as a government takeover.
Even though Republican leaders said they agreed with Obama that there are no “death panels’’ contained in the proposals in Congress, the allegation clearly had an impact. In an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released this week, 45 percent of those surveyed said it was likely that the federal government planned to decide when to stop providing medical care to the elderly. Also, 55 percent of respondents believed that the health care plan would insure illegal immigrants, and 54 percent believed the plan would lead to a “complete’’ government takeover. Obama has refuted both notions.
Obama’s presidential campaign was lauded by political analysts for its groundbreaking use of Internet organizing, text messaging, neighborhood “meet-ups,’’ and many other tools that helped increase support for the candidate. It was buttressed by a disciplined candidate who projected calm and stayed on message, while the Republican candidate, Senator John McCain, was viewed by some as having difficulty portraying a consistent theme on the economy.
Now, as he struggles with the messy business of governing, some are hoping for a return of Obama’s campaign-style focus.’
Dr. Dean: We didn’t know Americans had it in him to oppose this guy!
Howard Dean, the former Democratic National Committee chairman who has been critical of the White House’s equivocation about support for the public-option plan, said the White House is going through a catharsis as it tries to figure out how to transfer campaign tactics to winning one of the most difficult legislative battles in recent history.
“It is a learning experience, a major initiative like this in the first year,’’ Dean said in an interview. “It is a different kind of campaign and that’s why they had trouble with the message. I don’t think they were prepared for the vociferousness of the attack.’’
Comments