First Conservative Blog

Conservative Blog Post for October 13, 2009

‘Duh’ Economics   

Democrats this morning scrambled to contain damage resulting from release of a report highly critical of the health care takeover plan currently being debated in the US Senate.  The report – paid for by the Insurance industry and undertaken by highly respected Price Waterhouse Coopers – claims that the current plan would drive costs for an average individual up by at least $600 per year and would result in additional premiums of $1,700 per year for family coverage by 2013. 

This prediction drew the predictable Democrat reaction.  “Hatchet Job,” said a spokesperson from Senator Max Baucus’ (d-MT) office.  “Fundamentally Flawed” added AARP.  Without specifically addressing the reasons the study was flawed or incorrect, liberals proceeded with their usual method of handling dissent – impugning the motivations of the messenger.   “Insurance Company and Industry Greed,” seemed to be the central theme coming from Congressional Democrats. 

Price Waterhouse Coopers has been crunching numbers well before Barack Obama was riding the waves and attending his private high school in Hawaii.  The well-respected firm wouldn’t put its professional reputation into the cross-hairs of the Democrat party character assassination squads unless it was absolutely sure of its position – regardless of who paid for it.   Despite what Democrats claim, corporate integrity is alive and well in the US. 

The study identifies three central economic themes that Democrats can’t seem to grasp.  So for the purpose of identification, we’ll call these  ‘Duh’ principles .  Leftists who reject or can’t understand the principles of Economics just won’t get it, but perhaps the use of ‘Duh’ can shame them at least into listening.

‘Duh’ Principle 1 – Additional requirements placed upon an industry drives up costs to providers. 

As the Price Waterhouse Coopers study points out, heaping more responsibility on the industry will result in rapidly escalating costs to those organization that currently provide insurance services.  The only thing difficult to understand here is why Democrats have such a hard time understanding. 

Covering pre-existing conditions – although perhaps a noble objective – requires the industry to assume payment responsibilities for conditions they do not currently have to cover.  Does this increase their costs?  Of course it does!  There are a myriad of new requirements in the proposed legislation under consideration in both houses of Congress as well.  Each will drive up provider costs.

‘Duh’ Principle 2 – Higher provider costs means higher prices for consumers.

Will these new requirements directly increase costs to consumers?  It better or the company will soon fail.  Every organization must generate a profit for its shareholders or owners to remain viable.  It also may be that the government intends for insurance providers to fail so that the government option – or complete federal takeover of the insurance industry – will become the only remaining course.

When Democrats can’t tax value from an offending group or industry, they typically resort to adding costs and responsibilities to somebody else.  Astonishingly, the Democrat theme is that shareholders – not customers – absorb cost and tax increases.   As shareholders are viewed as members of the oppressive wealth class, this is an acceptable course.  

Shareholders can’t operate any business without a respectable profit margin.  They will compel the organization to pass on any additional costs to consumers.  And if all insurance providers must meet the same new set of requirements, all insurance company prices will rise concurrently.  There will be no advantage in moving from one provider to another.   One additional note on shareholders; most of these folks are average Americans that own portions of health provider companies as part of their stock holdings or 401(k) plans.  These aren’t rich New Englanders (like the Kennedys and Kerrys) who spend their summers on Martha’s Vineyard.

Unfortunately for them, Democrats are going to get blamed for rising health care costs at the same time service levels to customers will decrease.   As there are no Republicans around to blame, Washington lefties will have to face public wrath on their own.    So what are they to do?  There really is only one option – which the left will never accept.

‘Duh’ Principle 3 – Only by decreasing operating costs and lowering risk can the cost of health care be reduced. 

In addition to dumping service requirements on the health care industry, Government can influence the cost of doing business in only two additional ways; setting legal standards and taxation.  Democrats have allowed the legal industry to drive the cost of American health care well above the rate of inflation. Risk of being sued is a primary financial consideration for every medical professional.   And although nearly all Americans agree that fair compensation should be paid to victims of malpractice, the punitive damages – those damages that are awarded to a victim and his attorney as punishment for a wrong doing – are out of control.   John Edwards has a mansion and a mistress as proof of how much money the legal industry bleeds from the misfortunes of others.

Physicians must limit their exposure to lawsuits by ordering every test, exam and treatment imaginable for each patient – regardless of the likelihood of success.  This is termed ‘defensive’ medicine, which provides only marginal benefit to the patient and significantly escalates cost to the provider.  A legal reform effort that would limit punitive damages but leave actual damages up to court discretion would be hugely helpful in lowering the cost of doing business in health care.  And lowering costs allows physicians and insurance providers to compete for customers with better rates.   Unfortunately, the American Bar Association and the legal community is a primary owner of the Democrat party and will never allow their ability to leech a huge income off the misfortunes of others to be restricted. 

Increased taxation only elevates costs to the provider and applies further upward pressure on the price structure.  Upward pressure applied to the entire industry only raises internal costs, and as we have already seen raises costs to consumers. 

So the three ‘Duh’ Principles of Economics are obvious to all who look, read and research the health care issues.  Democrats who live as ostriches or only watch CNN, continue to believe that laws of economics do not apply to them or their policies.  And even though consumers may be gullible for a while, consumers can add and subtract.  When they see their costs outpacing their ability to pay, Democrats will be held accountable. 

Conservative Blog Post for September 28

Three Historical Lessons to Help the President Cope

The President of the United States, when confronted with major challenges and decisions, did what most Democrats do when challenged – He made plans to leave town.  Flying to Denmark to pitch the 2012 Olympic Selection Committee on behalf of his semi-native Chicago, Obama will leave behind a myriad of problems requiring leadership.  Apparently believing press reports that His words are leadership enough, the President thought he could take a ride on Air Force One and go back to Europe for a day to receive the usual leftist adoration.

The President this morning appears confronted by both domestic and international crises.  Obama’s pick for General of the Afghanistan war (Obama’s ‘real’ war as opposed to George W. Bush’s Iraq war),  General Stanley McChrystal has expressed concern that the Prez will want to pull out of Afghanistan rather than fight the enemy there.  The Iranians – shaking in their shoes after Obama’s words over the weekend – continued testing its missiles designed to deliver nuclear war heads to Tel Aviv.   And the health care takeover is losing momentum.  These issues require hard work for a hardened politician.  Most that want to be President relish these days as the chance to make a real difference for the country.  Obama chooses a flight to Copenhagen.

Defense Secretary Gates furthered the concern over Afghanistan on the Sunday talk shows by pointing out that leaving that basket-case of a country would allow the Taliban and Al Qaida to regroup, rearm and re-attack the American homeland.  Should that occur, of course the US military would be sent back into Afghanistan to hunt bad guys – at least until the next leftist liberal was elected President.  The Prez though, is reluctant to get into a war that can’t be quickly won.  Accordingly He is looking for the typical Democrat solution – a way out where He can declare victory without actually doing anything. 

The President’s preferred choice may be to fight the War on Terror on the streets of American cities rather than Afghanistan.   Reasoning that we wouldn’t have to pay transportation costs to get troops to a distant land, we could just fight the bad guys here.    Obama’s waffling on making any kind of decision on the Afghan war leaves most observers wondering – what in the world is the President looking for?  General McChrystal himself hasn’t been allowed a meeting with the President over this serious situation in over two months.

And then there is Iran.  The Muslim oligarchy that runs Iran understands that Obama’s options are limited.  And the options the President has are ones He will almost certainly never use.  The laughter in Tehran has almost died down after Obama’s statement that Iran must comply with world opinion or ‘face the consequences.’  Iran’s Russian and Chinese friends will ensure that these consequences will be of little worth.  Obama’s only recourse is to threaten unilateral military action and be prepared to use it.  Unfortunately for the free world, Obama doesn’t believe in military action, preferring instead to rely on the utterly worthless and increasingly contemptible United Nations.    Israel on the other hand – very much believes that its own existence is worth defending and will probably enact some military action of its own when it becomes clear that the United States won’t.   

It seems obvious to most that Obama is caught in a quandary with few, if any, good options on either Iraq or Afghanistan.  Israel won’t wait around to get a weapon of mass destruction fired at them and Obama can’t simply talk the Iranians into giving up their nukes.  In Afghanistan, although Obama’s instinct is to cut and run, a US with drawl means seeing a resurgent Taliban and Al Qaida that will bring the War on Terror home again to US soil. 

The President took this job apparently thinking that in the old Greek model of governance applied – where decisions are entrusted to Philosopher-Kings and the execution of policy is done by underlings.  It has dawned on the administration this week that hard work is necessary to resolve these problems and that this work cannot be off-loaded to others.  As hard as the President has tried to get rid of the Afghanistan issue by ignoring it (as evidenced by only having a single phone call conversation with General McChrystal in the past 70 days) it hasn’t gone away.  Iran won’t go away either.

What does seem in danger of ‘going away’ is the President’s plan to take over American health care.  All the advertising that the Prez extorted out of insurance companies and political allies has not moved support for the endeavor at all.  Here again, the President has worked Himself into another political box where He can’t compromise to get any meaningful legislation through the Senate.  His leftist supporters threaten to abandon support if a public option is not included.  Reasonable voters are dead-set against the notion that any savings can be found in Medicare that won’t directly restrict health care to America’s senior citizens – not to mention the fact that without increasing in the supply of doctors, scarcity of medical treatment (rationing) is inevitable.

History of course provides lessons valuable in solving each of these problems.  Since Obama hasn’t and certainly won’t release his college course grades, we don’t know if the President has any understanding of history.   If the Obamamaniacs can get past their campaign slogans and do some real work, these lessons are available to all.  But, in the interest of national safety and prosperity, here are three significant lessons to help the President in His decision making:

Afghanistan:  Lefties are quick to draw comparisons to the lessons of Vietnam and conclude that the US should not be drawn into a land war.  What history shows though is that the North Vietnamese had logistical and military support from China, the USSR and the East European Communist bloc.  They were able to keep the war going to wear out American will to fight.  Their objective was to simply keep the Americans engaged militarily until they lost the will to fight.

Now, the shoe is on the other foot.  The American objective should be continual engagement with the enemy on his battlefield until the fanatics either lose their will to fight or can’t find any more young fanatics willing to blow themselves up.  A terrorist encountered on the battlefield may be killed by US forces and after that, will not endanger the US homeland.  The point to fighting in Afghanistan is based on the Napoleonic code of war which the North Vietnamese used very effectively against us– engage the enemy, destroy his capability to fight and don’t waste time worrying about capturing cities and territory.  

Obama has to understand that this commitment will take generations to fight.  It takes 15 to 18 years to replace a suicide bomber.  And if we keep killing them in Afghanistan, there will be far fewer of them attacking us here.   Still, as John McCain once said – this could leave us with a presence in the region for 100 years.  Obama needs to eat his words and admit that in the case of Afghanistan, McCain was right.

Iran:  History’s lesson on this can be summed up in a word and a date; Munich, 1938.  Allowing Hitler to complete a peaceful takeover of the Sudetenland and portions of Czechoslovakia (you libs will have to look this up), emboldened the German dictator to speed construction of his military capability.  In the end, Hitler wanted much more than the few thousands of square miles of central European land.  The western policy of appeasement resulted in millions of European lives lost.  Had the west stood up to Hitler and threatened him with war in 1938, German Generals were going to overthrow the dictator.  Unfortunately, the west –like Obama wants to do – caved in allowing the horrible destruction of WWII in Europe.   Obama of course will never allow the word ‘appeasement’ to be used in describing His policy towards Iran, but His actions have got to support His words.  And for this President, that is a tall order.

Obama especially needs to avoid His natural instinct to work through the UN.  The UN, like the western powers in 1938, has no will to fight under any circumstances.  This makes the world body completely useless.   Therefore, no credible consequences exist to Iran for continuing its nuclear program.  Hitler correctly judged the west’s lack of will and the nut cases running Iran have made the same judgment about the UN.  In swearing to protect the United States last January 20, President Obama needs to entrust security of the US and her allies to generals like McChrystal and not to the loathsome and ineffective United Nations. 

Health Care:  One doesn’t have to go too far back in history to learn a few lessons on this one.  In fact, all Obama has to do is call in his Secretary of State for a heart to heart about what went wrong the last time.  The Clinton administration also tried to take over health care and at least to their credit, had Hillary put together a comprehensive plan.  This plan was rightfully shattered in Congress, which in part helped the Republicans take over the House in 1994.  At least Hillary had the backbone to put an actual plan together and let folks shoot it down.  That at least was an honorable defeat.

Obama’s strategy – even with a huge and overwhelming majority of his party,   has been to refuse any discussion of details – believing that Hillarycare was beaten because of its specificity.  Team Obama appears completely ignorant of the fact that it is the details that have emerged are ones the voters hate.  So if Obama wants to win in health care, He has to scale His vision way back.  He especially has to end the contentious Congressional fight now so that damage to His Democrat majority will be minimized.  Fortunately for conservatives, He shows no signs of giving in on health care and continues to intimidate Grandma and Grandpa into keeping quiet at their town hall meetings.  Granny and Gramps won’t forget at all and for the first time since FDR, will be voting Republican starting in 2010.

Newt Gingrich essentially saved Clinton’s job back in 1994 by taking over the House of Representatives – causing Clinton to govern from the middle and produce a balanced federal budget.  Obama refuses to believe that He is a servant of the people and continues his efforts to impose an unpopular health care plan on the country.  By refusing to throw his leftist allies under the proverbial bus, Obama is marrying His reputation to that of Nancy Pelosi.  In 2012, that will make a very easy target for any GOP challenger.

So History is there for the Chosen One and his minions.  History allows the intelligent to learn from past mistakes.  Campaign slogans however, cause the intellectual lightweights in the population to believe that with a different leader, things can be different.  And this is where the concept of hard work leaves Democrats and liberals behind.   Studying the lesson of history is a lot more difficult than coming up with a catchy campaign slogan.

Conservative Blog post for September 22

For Letterman Viewers, President Confirms – He is Black

In entertainment news, the cast of the Obama show appeared on the David Letterman show last night to receive an award.  The award – a potato in the shape of a heart – was presented to Barack Obama for, well… no one really knows, but it seemed funny to the producers.

Following the tour of lesser network talk shows, the President ended His propaganda effort by appearing with lib entertainer David Letterman to confirm that, yes; he ‘was black before the election.’  In response to a question about whether racial attitudes were driving resistance to the President’s attempted takeover of American health care, the President simply responded that his skin color had not changed in his recollection.  The Letterman crew didn’t have to prompt the audience; the line drew great laughter.  That a line like this would draw more than a chuckle is testimony to the intellectual level of most in attendance.

The most common Democrat tactic in winning public approval for any initiative is to figure out a way to claim victim status.  Former Presidential loser Jimmy Carter set up the situation perfectly by characterizing those that don’t want government run health care as racists.  Presented with a perfect opportunity, several in Congress echoed the former President’s claim.  Trying to appear post-racial, Obama had to acknowledge that he was in fact elected by others as well as by black citizens.  And when presented with a perfect opportunity to put racial divisions behind us, the President dropped the ball by making a joke.

Interestingly, appearing on Letterman’s show probably didn’t win many converts to his health care destruction efforts.  Those that can tolerate Letterman’s cutting edge, leftist humor are already firmly behind the proposal.  Obama may have accomplished the objective of building support from his base of lunatic lefties, but the appearance probably didn’t improve chances of ramming a heath care takeover through Congress.

It also didn’t help that the plan the President has been pushing isn’t fully written yet.  In what has amounted to a thousand different ‘trial balloons’ for everything from a single payer option for which taxpayers would wind up being the single payer, to government oversight panels that would be charged with saving money on end-of-life treatments, the President has thus far been unable to win public support.  In the face of declining support, he took the Obama show to the airwaves Sunday morning, causing folks to catch the early edition of The NFL Today. 

Of course, an unwritten plan is difficult for opponents to shoot at.  It is also a difficult thing to sell to people other than Letterman viewers.

In other entertainment news, former President Bill Clinton appeared on Larry King in an attempt to appear more Presidential than the current President.  Unfortunately, he at least partially succeeded.  Clinton, who has had his own problems discussing issues of race, appeared at least serious, which overshadowed the current President’s comedy routine. 

The comedy world also saw House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer  (d-MD) opine that a House reprimand for Rep. Joe Wilson for his outburst at the President’s State of the Heath Care Takeover speech was necessary to maintain civility and decorum.  The House’s leading ‘straight man’ got this line out with a straight face.  Apparently forgetting the eight years prior to the ascension of President Obama, Hoyer neglected to reprimand nearly every Democrat who heckled former President Bush at nearly every opportunity.

For his part, Rep. Wilson (R-SC) thanked members of the House for helping him break all previous campaign fund raising records for his district – apparently clearing over $1 million in contributions.  Wilson’s likely opponent – who lost the previous election in a Democrat landslide year by over 8 points – also claimed over $1 million in funds raised.  That Democrats would give this much money to a sure loser in 2010 is testimony to their logical decision making and problem evaluation skills.  A number of Florida real estate agents with beach front property to sell are now in a bidding war for that Democrat’s contributor list.

Obama to the Rescue – of the GOP – Three Ways Obama Helps Republicans

Following His theatrical –if misleading – address to the nation last Wednesday, President Obama sought to galvanize support for taking over the US Health Care industry.  Instead he added fortitude and backbone to the resistance.

Despite Congressman Wilson pointing out Obama’s inaccurate statement regarding coverage for illegal aliens, the speech failed to change public opinion.  (It is telling that despite a flood of contributions to Wilson’s congressional opponent from lunatic lefties anxious to feel better about themselves, the South Carolina district he represents remains firmly in support of their GOP rep.)

By refusing to come clean on several obvious issues, such as coverage for illegal aliens and the outrageous cost of His proposals, Obama unwittingly united the opposition yet again.  Supporters of His efforts to ruin American Health Care for most citizens were already united behind him – all 32% of the population.  Unfortunately for the Prez, the opposition just got stronger.  Obama has only himself to blame.

Failing to answer questions after 23 speeches on the matter is tantamount to lying.  Most voters who aren’t committed leftists keep waiting for answers as to how this thing is really to be paid for, where in the world –specifically – can $500 billion in savings be found within the Medicare program and how can government health boards (seriously) NOT act as death panels when their main duty will be to enforce cost controls and regulation on seniors needing treatment.   If there are no practical and realistic answers offered, most people that think for themselves conclude that the ones offering the plan really don’t know how it will work and are therefore not to be trusted.

Obama and his minions have simply not answered questions and are burning up what is left of the trust the voters left with them last year.    Other than simply denying that ‘bad things’ will occur, Obama and the leftist Democrats offer no substantive argument that will move public opinion.  Some Democrats – particularly in the Senate – seem smart enough to understand this and are already at work crafting a bit of legislation that will allow Obama to save face by claiming a win on health care reform without actually delivering very much. 

Still, the damage may be done.  Democrats know they will lose seats in the mid-term elections next year.  However, their President is putting them in the untenable position of supporting a plan that has no logical expectation of delivering the results Obama is promising.  Pelosi doesn’t care…she will be re-elected by her lunatic fringe district.  However, people like Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) do care – they represent entire states that do not support the health care takeover.

Conservative candidates in relatively red states like Nebraska and Louisiana (now that the Bayou Democrat’s election-stealing network has been broken up) are already running against the President.  Obama offers such a clear example of liberalism out-of-control and elitist government that refuses to answer questions or provide specific details regarding important matters, that any Democrat is painted with this image.  And in the Bayou State, Obama is already dragging Democrat prospects into the alligator pit.  Senator Vitter – beset by his own personal misbehavior – is mounting a VERY strong candidacy for re-election by simply presenting himself as one who opposes the Obama policies.  Right now, he is looking tough to beat.

Democrats knew they would have an uphill battle to maintain their House and Senate margins.  Unfortunately for them, Obama has given every conservative candidate a clear illustration of what liberalism means to America.  Americans are rightfully scared enough to at least pay attention.

Obama is adding to a potential GOP Revival in three central ways, including:

Arrogance – By stating that “we will call you out for your inaccuracies” the President is acting like a bully who is in fact, unwilling to talk about specific details.  Besides, this is an empty threat.  Republican opponents seem all too willing to have this conversation, as they have actually read the bills.  Democrats –especially those who have read the bills – are absolutely afraid to discuss the implications publicly.  Obama seems to either have not read the legislation or is absolutely dishonest about what the language means.  To Democrat’s credit though, the bills are written so poorly and in such legalese that Obama thought that as any good lawyer does– He could interpret it any way which suited Him.  This just isn’t good enough for American voters.  And should the attempt be made in the Senate to pass the Health Care disaster bill via reconciliation – look for a major GOP sweep next fall.

Attitude – A standard political tactic – if you are not for this plan, you are ignorant.  Unfortunately, the grass roots nature of the town hall resistance movement really is “grass-roots.”  For all its attempts to be a good organizer the GOP has great difficulty organizing a picnic – much less setting up the kind of opposition Congressional lefties ran into in their home districts last month.  For Obama and Pelosi to accuse the opposition of being Republican plants or being just plain ignorant is insulting to the very people to whom Obama owes his job.   They won’t forget.

Ineptitude – Team Obama believes that a good speech solves all problems.  They fail to distinguish between a good speech and good theatrics.  Obama is great at the latter – horrible at the former.  A good speech generally includes details and specifics to make a logical point.  Unfortunately, in the delivery of 23 major addresses on Health Care, no specifics and certainly little logic have emerged.  This just makes Democrats who support the plan look silly.  They can’t answer a simple question about the ‘reasonableness’ of finding $500 billion in savings from Medicare without ridiculing whoever asked the question.  The biggest fear on the part of Team Obama is that Joe Biden gets off the reservation and starts commenting on Health Care legislation.  Republicans would need no further assistance.

Health Care Reform Speech– Obama’s Top Five Tactics

Support for Health Care takeover is quickly slipping away.  To stop the slide, President Obama has scheduled yet another prime time speech to inspire the nation to accept His wisdom over voter’s personal judgment.  Unfortunately for members of Congress, they will be required to attend this Speech.  After two disastrous press conference appearances, the President had to come up with a bigger and better way to roll out the teleprompter and make one more pitch for taking over one sixth of the US economy.    Whether the President will actually roll out any new ideas is a mystery.  The networks weren’t going to forgo reruns of Hannah Montana to cove another presser, so He had to make this a speech before a joint session of the US Congress.

Obama advisors have hung on to the childish belief that a strong personality and effective communication are more important than facts.  The plain fact is that the current health care proposals will result in:

• exceptionally high costs to taxpayers,
• rationing of care,
• IRS involvement in the health care industry,
• restrictions on freedom of choice regarding end of life issues, and
• on and on

Congress made the mistake of letting the public read the bills Democrats were proposing.  Rational discussion of the proposal then led to the logical conclusion that all of these ‘really bad’ things will in fact become reality should the Democrat’s plan become law.  The only chance the Democrats had was to withhold the content of the legislation until after it was passed.   Team Obama believes that a good speech can overcome these realities.

How stupid does the President believe the American people are?  We will certainly find out Wednesday evening.  Basing His decision to speak to the country before a joint session of Congress, President Obama will employ five –until recently- tried and true Democrat tactics to regain support for taking over the American health care industry.   However, unless  He plainly removes the ‘public option’ from the legislation – a point he went the opposite direction on in his AFL-CIO speech over the weekend – Obama will show that he doesn’t respect American’s ability to reason for themselves.  Should He take this tack, He may ruin the rest of his Presidency.  And to quote a famous pirate, “one can only hope.”

So here are the top five predicted tactics that the President will employ to save the movement to ruin American Health Care:

5.  Demonize – the opposition – A tactic that brings back memories of Ted Kennedy vs. Robert Bork and Bill Clinton vs. anyone with a brain, President Obama will accuse conservatives and Republicans of not offering their own version of health care reform.  Conservatives believe that another version of taking over the health care system is not acceptable and of course have not offered an alternative.   Two Republican ideas already shot down in Congress were:

• Restricting care to US Citizens only by requiring some proof of citizenship, and
• Allowing insurance carriers to compete nationwide – something not currently allowed

The failure of these options indicates that Congressional lefties intend to provide health care to illegal aliens at taxpayer expense and intend to restrict consumer’s ability to purchase plans from better carriers in other states.   The latter option also ensures a lower degree of competition which results in higher prices and costs to American consumers.

4.  Paint a grand vision – for American Society – President Obama believes that He won the election because of his ‘Hope and Change’ message.  The slogan worked even though it was void of specifics.  The problem with health care is that Democrats committed their ideas to paper in the proposed legislation and now that the specifics are available to anyone who can read.  Most of those that did read the bills are very much against the proposals.    Obama believes that painting the vision of a grand and kind nation that takes better care of its illegal aliens than it does of its senior citizens will turn into a sure winner in 2012.  Obama better hope that these senior citizens won’t be around to vote in 2012.

3.  Engage in high theater and drama – by telling stories – The Hollywood lefties have offered a bit of advice to the President in that a good performance will go a long way to convince people to take action that is not in their best interest.  The President will no doubt have one or two (possibly more) heart touching, tear jerking stories of those who suffered terribly because of a lack of health insurance.  Of course the media will fail to validate any of these stories.  Theater and drama are hallmarks of Democrat administrations, but as movie producers have known for generations, the same film only draws well for one or two weekends.  After that, the support withers considerably.   Obama is doing yet another ‘rerun’ of his past health care speeches.  Past reruns haven’t fared well and have only driven support lower.  This speech may send support straight into the tank.  “One can only hope.”

2.  Make it Personal – After all, the Obama Presidency is all about Obama.  After the passing of the last Kennedy, there is no longer any unofficial American Royalty.  MSNBC loser Chris Mathews opined that Obama is the “last Kennedy brother” because Teddy anointed Him during the last election.  Despite the complicity of most in the Washington/New York media club, Americans really don’t want a royal system of government run by decrees and executive edicts.  Obama and the Democrats would very much like such a system as long as they are the ones in power.  Look for the President to bring up his family’s health history as part of the theater and drama act in a last ditch effort to make the story compelling, personal and worthy of throwing one’s own common sense and judgment out the window. 

1.  Simply deny – that bad things will happen (IRS involvement, Rationing, End-of-Life, No Freedom of Choice). This is perhaps the most interesting tactic to expect. Obama and the Congressional supporters who tried to force-feed health care takeover to the American voters have simply denied that the bad things will happen.  Obama has time and again stated that rationing won’t happen, you will be able to keep your insurance plan if you like it, and on and on.  What kind of argument is this?  As the Monty Python troop noted long ago, “simply denying something isn’t an argument.”    Obama is indeed becoming worthy of an appearance on Monty Python’s Flying Circus – if only they were still taping.  Repeating the same message over and over hasn’t been effective and won’t be in the future.  If Obama can’t provide specific examples of how and why rationing will not occur, and how 500ish billion can be cut from Medicare (for redistribution to illegal aliens and others who can afford insurance but won’t pay for it) without causing a restriction on available treatment to seniors, He will certainly lose this argument as well.

Obama is up against the crushing weight of logic in the Health Care Debate.   Americans are over the ‘Hope and Change’ message and want specifics that can be debated.  And when they are debated in a free and open forum, Americans should be over the ‘health care takeover’ as well.  One can only hope.

Obama’s Health Care Failure – Why the Message is Failing to Change Minds

If Democrats thought that the nightmare of townhall meetings was over, the President announced yesterday that He will be delivering a speech on heath care next week.  After the drubbing congressional lefties took over the past several weeks as a result of Obama’s handling of the issue, this speech should only re-ignite resistance.  After all, the President doesn’t offer specifics on how it all will work.  That is a job for little people.  In the end though, there really isn’t much the President can say  that would soften the anti-Democrat mood. 

But why did the resistance to health care legislation hit such a fevered pitch in the first place? Here are the top ten reasons the Obama communication plan that pushed the health care debate – has utterly failed. 

10.  Believing that Health Care is “All About Obama” – As evidenced by the school-video issue, the President’s team believes that He only has to set the policy direction for the country and His will “be done.”  The difficult part about this is that Obama has never held a real job and doesn’t understand that even though leadership makes decisions, carrying them out has consequences.  American seniors have figured out some of these consequences and they don’t like any of them. 

9.  Economic Dishonesty - Obama’s reluctance to discuss the source of cost savings only contributes to distrust.  Cutting billions from Medicare to redistribute elsewhere has only one consequence – rationing of care.  Rationing of care is the ONLY way that any cost savings will be achieved.  Seniors in particular understand street-level economics and also understand that enjoyment of their later years will be severely hurt by any of the health care bills currently being considered.

8.  Lies -  Democrats always seem surprised when voters don’t accept their positions.  Not discussing specific issues such as rationing and ultimate cost leaves constituents feeling that they are being lied to.  And if Arelen Specter is doing the talking – they are.  Lying to one’s voters is a sure ticket to political unemployment.

7.  SEIU – Union thugs sent to intimidate seniors makes really bad news coverage.   As most Americans know, if you have to send out bullies to rally for a cause, the cause is probably disastrous to your interests.  It is curious though that the big guys in purple shirts can’t intimidate Grandma and Grandpa from attending the town halls and making their feelings known.

6.  Charlie Rangel – Although not directly related to health care legislation, it was revealed yesterday that the congressman may have ‘forgotten’ to declare something like half of his income on his tax filings.  As a leading Democrat, Rangel only brings the spotlight to Democrats’ ‘do as I say, not as I do’ method of running the government.  This is just another reason to not trust the Democrat leadership.

5.  Jobless Claims – If Obama’s Stimulus program is working so well, why are so many still out of work?  The public isn’t buying the argument that Obama inherited the recession from GWB any more.  Belief is setting in that the Stimulus and federal spending are making the economic problems worse.   Jobs are still being shed by the hundreds of thousands and it is more apparent that Obama and the Democrats have no idea why their plan isn’t working.  If the Stimulus isn’t creating jobs, why should the public believe they should be trusted to write health care legislation?

4.  Taxation – Democrats typically villify the ‘rich’ as the ones who should be penalized and pay for benefits to the rest of us.  Unfortunately, the ‘rich’ are the ones who do the hiring and provide job creation.  With the failure of the Stimulus causing an already disastrous jobs situation, Americans now understand that any additional taxation – regardless of whom the tax is levied against – will ony make matters worse.

3. Taxation II – Obama has been clear about receiving a health care legislation package that would be “deficit neutral.”  Unfortunately, now that Democrats have had to publicly acknowledge that the proposal would be hugely expensive, even after rationing of care to seniors, the public is highy distrustful of anything the Democrats have to say regarding the federal budget.  These were the folks that in just a few short months have managed to misjudge the defict by a total of two trillion dollars.

2.  Dishonesty II – Statements that individuals can keep the health care plan they have if they are happy with it are simply untrue.  As any senior or anyone who has balanced a checkbook understands, offering a cheaper alternative with a government option will cause businesses to cease providing health benefits to their workers.  To maintain a competitive cost structure, businesses will HAVE to throw their workers onto the government plan.  So the health care plan that you would be able to keep – simply will not be available.  The problem for Democrats is that there are far too many people in America that have run businesses and organizations that fully understand that a government option will be an unparalelled disaster for those that already have good health services.

1.  Cancelling ‘Freedom of Choice’ – This term usually refers to those wishing to make the abortion procedure available to all based on the patient’s right to privacy.  Now however, the Obama administration along with congressional Democrats is restricting ‘choice’ as it applies to senior citizens nearing the end of their lives.  If certain medical procedures will be allowed only according to a government formula, seniors will no longer have ‘choice’ in how they continue to live their lives.  And even though the President has decreed that this will not happen, He has not presented a single reason that restricted treatment options will not occur.

ABC NEWS Special:   The Kennedy Health Care Act – we decide what is good for you

It was released yesterday that ABC won’t air the Anti-Obama health care advertisement produced by the League of American Voters.  The simple reason given was, well…actually a reason wasn’t given other than to say that the ad was “partisan.”  Most free speech is in fact “partisan” as a particular point of view is advocated.   It seems that Obama and the network intend that ABC’s is the only opinion allowed to be partisan as the network gave free airtime last month to a one hour infomercial delivered directly from Obama’s White House. 

Apparently the network felt that the discussion of health care issues was only relevant when done from the White House during an exclusive ABC News presentation.  After all, liberal propaganda must be protected.  And, when the Obama White House starts regulating program content, ABC wants to be on Obama’s Facebook ‘Friends’ list.

In the end, this could signal a positive change in the network.  If ABC is giving critical thought to the advertisements it runs, it may be that they are considering pulling the plug on other network gems.   If so here are the top ten shows we wish ABC would yank from their portion of the airwaves.

10.  Good Morning America – Obama propaganda tool #1, Charlie Gibson continues to embarrass himself.  In the latest episode, while glorifying poor Cindy Sheehan during the Bush presidency, Gibson recently admonished her to “go away” when Sheehan showed up to protest outside the Obama vacation home.  Most journalists are more careful to hide their liberal bias.  Gibson should be ashamed for letting his become so transparent.

9.  The View – Now that Elizabeth Hasselbeck (why are the conservative women always far and away the prettiest?) is a ‘mom-to-be’ program producers are trying to figure out how to keep the show’s leftists from just ranting.  That is about all the lefties are capable of anyway; that and slamming conservative women for being beautiful as well as intelligent.

8.  America’s Funniest Home Videos – Americans have a knack for doing stupid things while having trusted friends film them.  Obama is highly sensitive to this tendency and is trying to limit the ability of news organizations to film him doing his stupid things.  Unfortunately, the health care bills now being considered have been released to the public.  The public didn’t like it one bit.  So… a few critics have started showing up and making fools of key allies such as Arlen Specter and Kathleen Sebelius.   It is bad enough that the public reads bills its representatives are to vote on, but it is even worse that the key supporters – including the President – have no idea what the proposal will do.    AFV has gotten so predicable in recent years that one can tell exactly what the toddler is going to smack with dad’s golf club.    Interestingly, that is exactly where health care consumers are going to get whacked if this thing becomes law.

7.  Cougar Town (new) Courtney Cox – Please Dear God – may someone pull the plug on this utter embarrassment before it starts.   The show is so conceptually bad that the network will undoubtedly be embarrassed that it even put up a pilot episode.  Cougar Town is about a forty-ish, freshly divorced Mom trying to learn to chase younger guys.  Why, we don’t know.  Courtney Cox is being paid to portray the divorcee as well as to act as if she has very little brain matter in her pursuit of younger male companionship.    The Obama administration in trying to hang onto the women’s vote, will certainly object to portraying newly single women in this fashion.  Newly single women should also object to being portrayed in this fashion.

6.  Dating in the Dark – Who in the world comes up with these ideas.  Although getting to know someone before dating them is certainly a good idea, understanding that one’s date might have a face full of comic book tattoos would be good to know before heading out to Chez Maurice’s for an elegant dinner.    Incidentally, this is the same philosophy Obama is using to sell his health care proposals.  Keep the details from view for as long as possible.  Before long, you will be having dinner at a fancy French restaurant with a zombie; a zombie who will stick you with the check.

5.  Lost – Is this thing still on the air?  Is there no one at ABC that can come up with an interesting story that can hold viewer’s attention?  Well.. maybe not.  With the public education system firmly in the hands of Obama’s teacher union allies, this may be all that future generations of viewers will be able to handle.  In fact, “Lost” is exactly where voters were last November.
 
4.  Dirty Sexy Money – The network should just be straight about its programming.  Sex and money sells air time.  So… why not have a show about sex and money?  Because after Obama finishes with the economy, Americans will only have a limited shot at half of what sells air time.

3.  The Bachelorette – Always looking for a way to take normal people to inflict severe emotional pain, ABC has extended the run of the Bachelorette.  The sex and money theme is alive and well here, too.  Viewers all seem to like the hot tub and bedroom scenes as well as the deeply personal feelings that are shared with the entire world.  Team Obama has tried to build this level of intimacy with voters but is having trouble with the ‘trust’ part of the relationship.  It would help if they read the bills they advocate.  The Bachelorette would be wise to read up on her suitors as well.

 2.  I Survived a Japanese Game Show – This is the most unbelievably stupid idea to ever threaten to occupy air time.  Mama San runs things for a group of young participants who are to do some – as yet undefined tasks.  They are of course ‘hooking up’ with one another.  This appears to be a silly version of Dirty Sexy Money in Japanese game show format.  What was the research that ABC commissioned to determine that this show might be successful?  Probably the same research group that is telling Obama that the public really does want the government to take over the health care delivery system.

1.  ABC NEWS Special:   The Edward Kennedy Health Care Act – Driving Health Care off a Bridge.   Team Obama will never permit this show to leave the air. The public may never watch.

President Obama retired to a posh vacation home on Martha’s Vineyard this past Friday leaving His effort to take over American health care somewhat in doubt. He left His spokespersons to carry on the battle in the face of an unusually united Republican opposition.  This opposition is supported by all voters with brain matter. And while He vacations when many Americans can no longer afford to go camping for the weekend; the various spokespersons are taking the healthcare battle forward.

For several weeks, Obama aides have concluded that the President Himself is the best salesman for healthcare reform. Unfortunately, whenever Mr. Obama presents His case, support for the enterprise drops. So… the vacation seemed to be a good excuse to throw in some second team players to see if they can move the ball. The resulting fumbles only fuel doubt that anyone in government can make something like a government run health insurance program work.

Democrats believe that they – as the ruling class – are to set the agenda and make the rules. Other, lesser, working people are to figure out how to make their decrees, laws and initiatives work. When Obama says that healthcare reform will not result in rationing of health services, He genuinely believes it. After all, His role is setting the rules. Others have to make it work. If He says that there will be no rationing, then there will be no rationing. It is just that simple. What more do people need to know?

The trouble with healthcare reform really began when lefties in the House had to commit their plans to paper. Democrats didn’t count on people actually reading the resulting bills. And when constituents got wind of what was being considered, they began to crash the congressional town hall love fests. The Obama campaign for health care reform then re-engaged in the debate to state and restate that all the bad things – like increased costs, decreased access and care rationing – are just not going to happen. Repeating the same mantra without addressing the details within the proposed legislation makes the President appear childish – and now His poll numbers reflect it.

So it is off to the Vineyard with the fam this week to let some second stringers take a shot. And after the Sunday shows this weekend, none of the Presidents scrubs are faring any better than the big guy. So here is the top ten list of worst spokespersons for health care reform:

10. MSNBC – Yelping lunatics on the air have not been able to convince folks that health care reform as proposed won’t pull the plug on Granny’s respirator. Olberman isn’t exactly the picture of fairness or credibility on any issue, so the Obama administration would do well to discourage their allies in the peacock newsroom to clam up. They would get more viewers on Rachel Maddow if they went back to talking about Che Guevara.

9. CNN – Wolf Blitzer actually tried to answer some viewer’s questions about health care reform on the Situation Room last week, but the questions they chose to answer all produced the response “we don’t know” or “we will have to wait and see.” That is surely helpful to the cause. Before ruining one sixth of the American economy, most sane people – including our Senior Citizens – don’t accept the “don’t know” answer. Someone with some facts and logic has got to explain the details within the House bills before the idea will get any support. Unfortunately, only Republicans and commentators have attempted to read the thousands of pages that were produced in only a few days.

8. Senators Max Baucus , Kent Conrad, Byron Dorgan - Could Democrats have possibly found any more boring US Senators to speak for healthcare? Well, no. These guys all look essentially the same, speak as if they just woke up from a nap and come from fundamentally red states. Baucus – by virtue of his chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee has to give interviews on health care reform, but networks hate talking with him lest they lose audience share to nap time. Even Olberman has to slow down his pace when conversing with Montana Max.

7. Senator Harry Reid –A horrible spokesperson for anything except his retirement, the good Senator from Nevada is now in fact contemplating just such a future. Any Republican candidate – from a basketball coaches’ son to someone else no one has really heard of – would beat ‘ol Harry in a walk if the election were held now. And unfortunately for Reid, Team Obama couldn’t care less whether Searchlight Harry gets re-elected or not. The administration will continue to pressure Reid to comply. Voters – whom Reid works for – will continue to pressure him to resist. Just like a bad sit-com, the drama will take place late next year when Nevada voters finally fire this loon.

6. Congressperson Barney Frank – One wonders how Frank will achieve re-election after comparing one of his constituents to a dining room table. A dining room table just might possess more intellect than the good Congressman and at least the conversation would be quieter. It should be noted that the Massachusetts windbag enjoys the support of AIG and other Wall Street bigwigs, so he will always be tough to beat. However, the administration should avoid letting Barney talk out loud as he –like the President- refuses to actually answer any questions and isn’t above abusing constituents.

5. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer – the anti-Pelosi – Hoyer seems to be the one chosen to lull those that object to health care reform into feeling that they might be getting their message to Washington. Late last week, Congressman Hoyer stated publicly that the public option might have to be eliminated for a bill to gain passage in the House. It seems that Hoyer answers his phone when fellow Congressfolks phone in from their town hall meetings.

4.House Speaker Fancy Nancy Pelosi –the anti Hoyer – (Notice how Team Obama has put the kibosh on letting Pelosi do too much in the way of public speaking on health care? ) After comparing normal voters to Nazis, Pelosi stated late last week that no bill could pass the House without inclusion of the public option. She and Hoyer are scheduled for coffee on Monday morning.

3.HHS Secretary Kathleen of Sebelius – This isn’t Kansas anymore. Originally brought in as a symbol of Obama’s benevolence to states that usually vote red, Sebelius ignited a firestorm among the lunatic fringe of the Democrat party when she noted that the public option wasn’t necessarily a key part to the President’s health care agenda. The administration then spent most of last week cooling tempers on the left and giving the wink and a nod that the public option will absolutely be included in the legislation. She then stated that the media had created the misunderstanding. At least she has learned that it is plausible to blame the media for getting out the wrong message.

2. Senator (currently) Arlen Specter – Arlen Specter figured out that he would lose a GOP primary race to Pat Toomey. So rather than just voting with the Democrats, Specter then decided to become one – clearing the way for Toomey to roll into next fall’s election without engaging in a tough primary fight. Meanwhile, Specter is left running his town hall meetings in the face of angry opposition and trying to convince the Democrat party that he can indeed beat Toomey in the general election. Like a man at the center of a circular firing squad, turncoat Arlen stutters though the town hall meetings looking dazed and confused.

1. Robert “Family Guy” Gibbs – Number one in the trust-building business, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs’ job is to make the President look good. Following on the heels of a campaign where the President was treated like a saint, Gibbs thought he had the easiest job in the world. Unfortunately, making members of the press look foolish – even CNN reporters will get angry and start asking real questions. The platitudes that used to produce such adoration in the press aren’t working anymore so Gibbs has been punching up his resume.

Honorable mention goes to Joe Biden – who also has been restricted to that previously undisclosed secret location lest he lend his ‘wordsmithing’ skill to Obamacare. With Obamacare on the ropes, the Dems want him exiled as far away as possible – to someplace like the Congo.

Honorable mention also goes to Hillary – who actually was exiled to the Congo.