MSM Hoodwinked Again by Obama Presser
Once again the MSM jumps on the wrong points such as the sound bites and the Gates soliliquy by President Obama. Yes, one can argue about the perceived effectiveness of the press conference last night in general and the President's comments about the Gates arrest specifically. But the MSM still can't comprehend that President Obama does not do these press conferences for the press. He does it for the opportunity to talk straight to the people. sometimes I feel like I am watching a master Rope a Doper.
I tried to listen to the Press Conference as a citizen that does not follow the news and pundits closely. I thought that his messages to the people were great. I will defer to Coonsey for the highlights of which I refer :
I beleive that the President's methodology is working. My latest anecdotal example:
Last night I again found myself sharing a couple of beers with several working class friends. The neanderthal Red Stater Rushobot friend, I will call him Bud (after his favorite beverage), who is constantly trying to provoke arguments with me, was there. Not unusual, but this time his girlfriend was with us. These folks are in their late 40's and early 50's and none of them have private health insurance.
The subject turned to healthcare and everyone quickly picked up the themes about the horrendous insurance companies and overpriced drugs. Surprisingly to me, in spite of the constant conservative brainwashing omnipresence of our local MSM they joined in agreement to the need for a Universal Healthcare program. Bud's girlfriend was most vociferous in favor of Universal Healthcare.
The proof that the people are listening to Pres. Obama :
Bud sat silent in agreement.
"But the MSM still can't comprehend that President Obama does not do these press conferences for the press."
This is exactly what I thought when I read that Chris Matthews didn't think it was enough. It's not about you Chris.
July 23, 2009 11:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bud sat silent in agreement.
This gives me hope! YES WE CAN!
Now, how do we get the people like Bud to get past their partisan/gangster mentalities and share the field on 7/30/09 in DC?!?!?
July 23, 2009 12:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
One step at a time. If we can get them to start bugging their reps, I will be happy.
July 23, 2009 5:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Even Bud knows that when you're drowning, you take a life preserver from anyone.
July 23, 2009 1:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Could you explain what you mean by they don't have "private health insurance"? What kind do they have, if any? I agree with you on health care and have no angle, just a purely factual question.
July 23, 2009 1:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
They go to the emergency room.
Bud ten years ago had to give up his assets, get declared diabled and had a kidney replaced by Medicaid. Of course, being a Dittohead, Bud does not like to talk about such realities.
July 23, 2009 4:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
They go to the emergency room.
Bud ten years ago had to give up his assets, get declared diabled and had a kidney replaced by Medicaid. He is probably smart enough to get computer training and get a decent paying job (without health coverage due to his condition) and contribute more to society, but then he would lose his Medicaid.
Of course, being a Dittohead, Bud does not like to talk about such realities.
Isn't healthcare in this country ironic?
July 23, 2009 4:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'll bet he's against "Big Gov't" and "Liberals," except on the day he receives his disability benefit.
July 24, 2009 2:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
I find Bud ironic. As I similarly find some of my artist/designer friends in Charleston, SC, who do not have health insurance because they cannot afford it as independent contractors, but who, nonetheless, deluged me with vituperative emails prior to the election, demanding to know how I could miss the fact that Obama was: a) a Muslim (perfectly obvious, of course); b) an Affirmative Action anomaly; c) not American-born, blah, blah,blah.
I'm glad Bud kept quiet on this occasion. Maybe Charlestonians from WVa are a bit brighter than my dearly beloved, but heartbreaking Charlestonians from SC?
July 23, 2009 4:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
See I love stories like this. WHAT IS THE REACTION of normal people. Although, who is normal could be a 500 page blog.
This is a great post.
July 23, 2009 5:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Remember, DD - "normal" is a statistical, not a psychological term.
July 23, 2009 6:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think where the providers are most vulnerable to criticism is with the non-stop cost increases that are far removed from all other segments of the economy.
There are actually two solutions to this problem but only one is under scrutiny. The idea of a public option can offer some competition to control escalating costs.
The other option would be to truly regulate the industry. I think what is being negotiated behind the scenes is a move to have some form of public option but with an eye to preserving as much as possible the underlying mechanisms of the business model of insurers. I think this is where the entire thing is headed in the wrong direction and will be a disaster. We can get a public option but if we retain the basic features of the presnt model we will have lost out on a far greater savings that would have otherwise been possible.
The major problem with all of this is the industry having been allowed to operate in a collective way as an unchecked monopoly. Some would argue that the marketplace is competitive but the facts disprove this argument and in fact confirm a monopolisitc enterprise. Having a compromise solution that preserves this in whole or in part is bound to fail. Much has been made of some concessions the industry has tentatively agreed to and which refer to some huge dollar amounts. I would bet anything that after this is all done there won't be an iota of difference in the industry after tax profits. The only real difference will be how costs are spread around.
July 24, 2009 12:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
I was disappointed in the presser. I hoped that Obama would make it more personal; looking right into the camera and asking:
"Do you feel more secure about your health care coverage than you did 10 years ago? Are you one of the x million of people who has lost coverage because of losing a job in the last x months?
"Do you honestly think it is better to keep on this trajectory, or do we need a reform that is independent of a person's job, so that not only can you AFFORD health care premiums, but you can KEEP your health coverage if you change jobs, if you lose your job, or if you get too sick to work.
"We don't want your health care to be so vulnerable that you could lose your house, your savings, and let's be honest: YOUR HEALTH. To those who use scare tactics, I will say this:
"You won 12 years ago, and what did you do after that to make it better? You defeated health care reform to protect yourself, and how have you made it better since then?
"The only thing that has changed in those 12 years is that more people cannot afford insurance, and the insurance industry has made millions more with fewer people. How could they do that? They deny coverage to those who are sick, collect premiums from those who have less of a chance to need health care resources, thereby leaving more for profits. And if that wouldn't work, they just deny coverage or drop sick people from their rolls.
"Do not succumb to the lies of those who say that health care is only for those who currently have it. Believe me, all of you are only one debilitating illness away from being dropped, and on your own. To those who push the idea that the government would tell you what doctor you can see, please check in with your insurance company to see which doctor is "in your network," and then ask yourself if a portable policy, as we are proposing, could possibly be worse. I can refute every single one of their scare tactics, but so can you if you just think about what they are saying.
"All I ask is that you think. Oh, and also just evaluate whether you are any better off with health coverage than at any time of your life. Unless you are among the elite, as are many of the financial base of the republican party, you are NOT better off.
"One last comment -- all the empathy that republicans show to "Small Business Owners" completely dries up after elections and after things such as health care get resolved. What small business-man wouldn't be better off if he/she didn't have to cover employees' health insurance needs?
July 23, 2009 7:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great comment CVille!!!
July 23, 2009 7:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks, I was hoping Obama would say something like that. I don't really know what his purpose was. If he was speaking to "all of us" he missed the mark. I was really hoping he would knock it out of the park, and he didn't. I was hoping he would challenge the scare tactics point by point, and put them on display. He didn't; at least not in a way that would sway anyone who needed convincing.
I really don't know what the point of this presser was. And I agree that he would have been better off to punt on the "Gates question."
July 23, 2009 7:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Without a doubt President Obama got off his mark some last night. And yes, I would have loved it as well if he had expressed your thoughts as directly as you express here.
My point is that I am feeling more love for President Obama even around here as time goes on.
But we need to keep it up.
July 23, 2009 10:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is impossible to dislike President Obama personally -- except by lying about that fact. The more he is seen as being intelligent (I think he's brilliant) and personable, and neither insulting nor condescending, the more he will be liked.
And none of that can hurt the prospects for actual health care reform.
July 24, 2009 2:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
""One last comment -- all the empathy that republicans show to "Small Business Owners" completely dries up after elections and after things such as health care get resolved. What small business-man wouldn't be better off if he/she didn't have to cover employees' health insurance needs?"
Amen.
The GOP has nothing but contempt for small business owners. Their masters are large moneyed corporations, not mom and pop.
July 24, 2009 9:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree completely, but I think we have to keep in mind that the format of the press conference is still a question and answer session. Obama was trying to get his points out in between absurd questions from the reporters like, "Will you abide by the same restrictions once health care reform is passed as a symbolic gesture?" to which Obama replied: "I'm the President (you idiot). I can't get this doctor to stop following me everywhere."
He wasn't completely on his game, and I think in general Obama is less effective at getting out his message through a press conference than he is through a speech or town hall meeting. But how much of that is due to the limitations of the format and how much is due to his own personal limitations is anybody's guess.
July 24, 2009 10:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
I must be one of the very few who thought Obama did just fine at his press conference. Yes, he was talking to us, but obliquely. It was a press conference, after all. This is what he said and this is what I wanted to hear. (I notice it got left by the wayside today as the pundits parsed his words and decided he didn't say anything. I don't know how much clearer he could have been):
This is about the woman in Colorado who paid $700 a month to her insurance company only to find out that they wouldn't pay a dime for her cancer treatment, who had to use up her retirement funds to save her own life.
This is about the middle-class college graduate from Maryland whose health insurance expired when he changed jobs and woke up from the emergency surgery that he required with $10,000 worth of debt.
This is about every family, every business, and every taxpayer who continues to shoulder the burden of a problem that Washington has failed to solve for decades.
This debate is not a game for these Americans, and they can't afford to wait any longer for reform. They're counting on us to get this done. They're looking to us for leadership. And we can't let them down.
We will pass reform that lowers cost, promotes choice, and provides coverage that every American can count on, and we will do it this year.
July 23, 2009 10:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry, somehow I messed up the blockquote. It's all Obama!
July 23, 2009 10:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Those points were great, but they didn't have the impact he needed. They were delivered in the passive voice. I am sorry to be saying this, because I have criticized people who pick apart everything that he does and supply "Their way."
But I am guilty of it myself now, because I thought he must realize how important this presser was. I wish he had made the same points, but in a first person way:
"I am concerned about YOU, an insured person, paying $700 a month for insurance, only to find out that they won't pay one penny for your cancer treatment. I got a letter from a woman in Colorado who had this experience. She, like you, thought she had health insurance that would cover her health needs.
"I am concerned about YOU, an insured person, who, when you changed jobs, blah blah blah.
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People need to put themselves in the place of people who have had medical horror stories, which really and truly happen every day. That is what republicans do, but they aren't even telling real stories!
I am not anywhere near as smart as Obama, but unless he can put the threat of being without health care options in peoples' own back yards, like the repubs do, we will lose.
We need to scare people with the truth, as opposed to scaring people with fiction like the repubs do. We have to make it personal, or it will die like it did last time.
July 23, 2009 10:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Again, CVille, it was a press conference, not a fireside chat. My feeling was that he was telling the MSM and the naysayers he had had enough of pussyfooting. I'm not sure I'm actually convinced that he's ready to make heads roll, but it was as positive a statement about public option health care as I've heard coming from him.
Passive? As opposed to what? This is his way. He bides his time. He doesn't shout, he doesn't smirk, he doesn't bloviate. He needs to go slow but sure with this one. We can't afford to lose again. Hillary and Bill lost the case for health care because the evil ones managed to convince a gullible public that they were trying to shove a huge government program down their throats. And they did come on strong--falling right into the evil ones' trap. Obama--I hope--is too smart for that.
As I said, I think he did just fine yesterday. Now he needs to keep it up. We have to get this done.
July 23, 2009 10:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wonder if the MSM doesn't get what real voters are thinking because the MSM are mostly VERY rich DC/NY elite types -- overwhelmingly white and upperclass and likely priveleged their entire lives.
Middle class and poor families know all the hardluck stories about denial of care by isnurers and people dying from lack of coverage, etc. etc.
July 24, 2009 9:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly. Every single one of the people reporting and commenting on the economy and on health care are sitting pretty without a care in the world about where their next job or their next meal is coming from. And when they have medical needs they're taken care of without a thought about how they're going to pay for it.
They look at people not as individuals but as unwashed masses, and if they want to assuage their consciences they grab a few stories about union fraud, or worker fraud, or the damned hypochondriacs who want a pill for everything, or the horrors of big government sticking its big nose in our business.
They're disgusting. They traffic in cruelty and they don't even see it.
July 24, 2009 9:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
Youv'e hit the nail on thje head with this psychological profile:
"want to assuage their consciences they grab a few stories about union fraud, or worker fraud, or the damned hypochondriacs who want a pill for everything, or the horrors of big government sticking its big nose in our business."
Perhaps that is why the MSM talking heads endlessly parrot GOP talking points about "big govt".
Personally, I almost never hear any civilians complaining about "big govt".
July 24, 2009 10:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Surprisingly to me, in spite of the constant conservative brainwashing omnipresence of our local MSM they joined in agreement to the need for a Universal Healthcare program. Bud's girlfriend was most vociferous in favor of Universal Healthcare.
The proof that the people are listening to Pres. Obama:
Bud sat silent in agreement."
But that is not what we are getting, is it? Its not even what Obama is talking about, so what are you saying, really?
We should overturn the HMO system and return to the post-WWII Hill-Burton standard of medical care infrastructure, adding to that a Medicare-for-all Universal Plan. That is the only way to cover everybody, reduce costs and maintain a high level of quality care.
Obama's plan will cut hundreds of billions of "waste" out of Medicare, set up an "Independent Medicare Advisory Commission" of five physicians rationing board (can you imagine what the Bush Administration, or some future GOP admin would do with THAT power in their hands?), and keep the status quo of the HMO system/Insurance Industry rip-off in place. How is this progress?
Obama supporters seem to look at this proposed mess thru rose-colored glasses and see meaningful, if not perfect, reform. I see no meaningful reform here, and danger in the form of this independent commission, which can be used to impose fascist austerity on the US population. The weak addition of a public option, even if it does make it thru into the final bill (which is by no means a certainty) is not enough of a counter-weight to danger of the independent board.
July 24, 2009 9:50 AM | Reply | Permalink