One way or the other, President Obama wants the health-care debate to end. However it ends, his speech today framed the themes we can expect to hear more of as the debate ends, the votes happen, and the American people come to judgment.
Two themes show the president aiming for ordinary folks.
First, he favors tax cuts. He pitched the new subsidies for health insurance as tax cuts for the middle class.
Second, he said Republicans are for an unfettered insurance market. In glomming together insurers and Republicans as one alloyed mass, he has set up the potential for blaming Republicans whenever there is a bad story in the news about health insurance. Premiums up? Blame Republicans. Human-interest story in which insurers act like insurers (that is, they price risk)? Blame Republicans.
One theme is positive and the other negative. Both try to put Republicans on the defensive. However the Congressional votes turn out, they are themes we can expect to hear all the way through the election.
– Hanns Kuttner is a visiting fellow at Hudson Institute.