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Messages Shift as Unpopularity Grows
August 31, 2010
The Democrats have gotten some pretty bad advice this year. First, President Obama told them passing his health care reforms would be the “the smart thing to do politically.” Then, Majority Leader Reid told them that if they explained the bill to people, people would like it. Neither statement has proven true based on recent poll numbers which show opposition to health care reform remains high; Democrats are widely disliked; and President Obama’s job approval rating is at an all-time low.
So, now they’re getting some new advice from Families USA – a liberal health care advocacy group which has been pushing for a law like ObamaCare for nearly two decades. This week, Families USA held a conference call telling Democrats and their allies that Americans remain skeptical of the new law and coached them to use a new message: “The law is not perfect, but it does good things and helps many people. Now we’ll work to improve it.”
In the words of the Wall Street Journal, “Wasn’t improvement supposed to be the point of ObamaCare?”
The 24-page presentation (which can be viewed here) “suggests that Democrats are acknowledging the failure of their predictions that the health care legislation would grow more popular after its passage, as its benefits became clear and rhetoric cooled,” Politico reports. “Instead, the presentation is designed to win over a skeptical public, and to defend the legislation — and in particular the individual mandate — from a push for repeal.”
Families USA cautioned Democrats, “don’t promise the law will reduce costs and deficit” – a long-time claim that has been disproven by economic experts and the Congressional Budget Office several times.
Conveniently, rising deficits are the very reason President Obama said his health care reform needed to be passed: “If we do not control these [health care] costs, we will not be able to control our deficit…If we do not reform health care, your premiums and out-of-pocket costs will continue to skyrocket.”
The presentation is based on research by the Herndon Alliance, “a low-profile group that coordinated liberal messaging in favor of the public option in health care. Its ‘partners’ include health care legislation's heavyweight supporters: AARP, AFL-CIO, SEIU, Health Care for America Now, MoveOn and the National Council of La Raza.
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