Salesperson-in-chief gets to work on health care reform

President Obama continued his sales pitch for health care reform this weekend, making the rounds of the Sunday talk show circuit. During an interview with George Stephanopoulos that aired today, Obama said, “We’re not going to have other people carrying your burdens for you.” To say this was an unexpected sentiment coming from this President would be an understatement. Praising personal responsibility, meeting obligations and self-sufficiency have not been trademark items for this President who so famously touted the benefits of ’spreading the wealth around’ on the campaign trail.

His statement was in regard to the “$900, on average — our families [pay] in higher premiums because of uncompensated care.” The President’s position is to regulate behavior and force everyone to either carry insurance or pay a fine.

“The — for us to say that you’ve got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase. What it’s saying is, is that we’re not going to have other people carrying your burdens for you anymore.“

As I wrote last week here on AIP, this assertion that we are all collectively picking up the tab for the uninsured to the tune of $900 to $1100 a year per family, is false. Unfortunately, the media has been slow to fact-check the President’s talking points on health care reform. The WSJ picked up the story about Otto Raddatz just last week when I wrote about it on AIP almost a month ago. Perhaps now that the President has repeated this fallacious claim about the uninsured a few more times, the media will cast some sunlight on the truth.

But, the President’s flawed data isn’t the only issue. It’s the sentiment he expressed in defending his plan, that we’re not going to have some people carry the burden for others. For today only, and only when it comes to this topic of the uninsured and their effect on premiums, the President positioned himself as against pinning the burden on one segment of society for the benefit of another.

But, isn’t this what his Presidency is based on? On all of us being each other’s keepers? How many times has he told reporters that successful people like him should pay more in taxes than the waitress struggling to make ends meet (an example he took a liking to on the campaign trail)?

Yet today, by the President’s logic, he expressed that when people don’t shoulder their responsibilities, when they expect for everyone else to carry them, everyone else pays the price. The collective suffers. And, this time, President Obama finds this unacceptable.

Surprised? Why the change from his normal philosophy of fairness — that is, taking from one group to pay for another because it’s the fair, socially just thing to do? What are we missing? What happened today?

The answer is that this is a good for today only, health-care specific policy he’s carved out. There is no reconciling his statement today with his belief that ’spreading the wealth around’ is the only way to success.

Charles Krauthammer wrote an excellent article this weekend on President Obama’s shaky relationship with the truth. He writes, “Obama doesn’t lie. He merely elides, gliding from one dubious assertion to another.” When one tactic doesn’t work, he moves on to the next ploy. Krauthammer perfectly sums up Obama’s approach to his health care pitch. If you like your insurance, you can keep it — didn’t work. The public option is just an option — didn’t work. I will not sign a plan that adds a dime to the deficit — didn’t work. Illegal immigrants will not be covered under our plan — didn’t work.

So, our salesperson-in-chief moved on to his next gambit. Is it to obfuscate? To sound conservative? I’m not sure. What I do know is that President Obama’s policies embrace a philosophy that is completely opposed to the one he peddled today. But, with his health care proposals remaining unpopular, I guess he’ll try anything to sell his plan — including throwing a little conservative philosophy in there.  Many including Karl Rove and George Will have pointed out that when the President talks about health care, the poll numbers go down. This week’s numbers will tell whether this new untrustworthy sales tactic worked.

*Originally published September 20, 2009 on the American Issues Project Blog, here.

Tags: capitalism, health care debate, health care misconceptions