How can politicians make Obamacare the winning message? It’s in the polls.

Everyday Americans get up in the morning and go to work. They provide their services to companies and corporations. In return they expect a living wage. They expect that their work entitles them to financial security and healthcare security. For thirty plus years both have been eroding.

When President Obama ran for president in 2008 he understood that the root of every American’s economic security laid with ensuring every American would have access to affordable health care. He knew a single-payer health care system was the most effective system. However he was pragmatic enough to settle for RomneyCare on Viagra to begin the codification of health care as a right.

The reason health care reform has always eluded presidents of the past is because of ideological rigidity. President Obama minimized his ideological rigidity to the consternation of his left flank to get an imperfect law that will ultimately get improved. A few months ago I wrote a piece that placed this into context:

The genius in achieving the passage of Obamacare is immediately evident after reading the transcribed talk titled “A Brief History: Universal Health Care Efforts in the US” given by Karen S. Palmer MPH, MS in San Francisco at the Spring, 1999 Physicians For A National Health Program (PNHP) meeting. The talk revealed the headwinds that have blown over every President attempting to pass some form of universal healthcare. Doctor associations, insurance industry, unions, and other groups have always created opposition in some combination that guaranteed failure. She described the reason for failure as follows.

Political naiveté on the part of the reformers in failing to deal with the interest group opposition, ideology, historical experience, and the overall political context all played a key role in shaping how these groups identified and expressed their interests.

In effect, the very compromises President Obama has been knocked for are the compromises that allowed the passage of the Affordable Care Act. It was a running start that will need modification. The president is cognizant of this fact and he stated that much in the State Of The Union Speech on January 25th, 2011.

Please read below the fold for more on this story.

Daily Kos

How can politicians make Obamacare the winning message? It’s in the polls.

Republican Party Needs to Master the Message

Senator Ted Cruz is a hero in some Republican circles — and the opposite among many of his Senate Republican colleagues.

At this crucial juncture in the history of America, internal battles within the only party that can turn things around are the last thing Americans need. Moreover, each side in this political civil war has all too many valid criticisms of the other.

The Republican establishment’s criticisms of Senator Cruz are criticisms of his rule-or-ruin strategy, which can destroy whatever chance Republicans have of taking back the Senate in 2014 and taking back the White House in 2016. And, without political power, there is no real hope of changing things in Washington.

Senator Cruz’s filibuster last year got the Republicans blamed for shutting down the government — and his threatened filibuster this year forced several Republican Senators to jeopardize their own reelection prospects by voting to impose cloture, to prevent Cruz from repeating his self-serving grandstand play of last year. The Republicans need every vote they can get in the Senate — plus additional votes by defeating some Democrats who are running for the Senate this fall. It can be a very close call. Jeopardizing the reelection of current Republican Senators is an act of utter irresponsibility, a high risk with zero benefits to anyone except Ted Cruz — and the Democrats.

However unjustified Senator Cruz’s actions, the very fact that a freshman Senator can so quickly gain so many supporters, with so much enthusiasm, ought to be a loud warning to the Republican establishment that they have long been a huge disappointment to a wide range of Republican voters and supporters.

One of their most maddening qualities has for decades been their can’t-be-bothered attitude when it comes to explaining their positions to the American people in language people can understand. A classic example was Speaker of the House John Boehner’s performance when he emerged from a meeting at the White House a while back. There, with masses of television news cameras pointed at him, and a bank of microphones crowded together, he simply expressed his disgust at the Obama administration, turned and walked on away.

Here was a golden opportunity to cut through the Obama administration rhetoric and set the record straight on the issues at hand. But apparently Speaker Boehner couldn’t be bothered to have a prepared, and previously thought out, statement to present, conveying something more than his disgust.

Unfortunately, Speaker Boehner is just the latest in a long line of Republican “leaders” with the same disregard of the need to explain their position in plain English.

That takes work. But it is work that any number of conservative commentators on radio and television do every day of the week. And they are very successful in getting across arguments that Republican politicians do not bother to try to get across.

Democrats are constantly articulating their talking points. Less than 24 hours elapsed after the Congressional Budget Office reported that ObamaCare was likely to cause many workers to have their hours cut back, before Democrats were all talking about the “freedom” this would give workers to pursue other interests, rather than being “locked-in” to long hours on a full-time job.

It was a slick and dishonest argument, but the point here is that Democrats immediately saw the need for articulation — and for all of them to use the same words and phrases, so as to establish their argument by sheer repetition.

Nor was this the first time that Democrats coordinated their words and phrases. A few years ago, Senator Chuck Schumer was secretly recorded giving fellow Democrats the word to use whenever describing Republicans — namely, “extreme.”

When George W. Bush first ran for president in 2000, the word among Democrats was that he lacked “gravitas.” People who had never used that word in years were suddenly saying “gravitas” 24/7.

The Republican establishment has more than a tactical deficiency, however. They seem to have no principle that they offer or follow with any consistency. Their lack of articulation may be just a reflection of that lack of principle. It is hard to get to the point when you have no point to get to.

Ted Cruz filled a void. But the Republican establishment created the void. 

RealClearPolitics – Articles

Republican Party Needs to Master the Message

Obamacare"s Day 2 message: Forget Washington

Ironically, Obamacare appears to be benefiting from the government shutdown. | AP Photo

If there’s one message coming out of the White House about the Obamacare sign-up period, it’s this: Forget Washington.

While the nation’s capital remains in shutdown mode, lost in a seemingly hopeless partisan clash over whether the rest of the government’s operations and its creditworthiness should be held captive to the health care law, the administration’s six-month window to “enroll America” enters Day Two on Wednesday.

Continue Reading

After a series of first-day foul-ups that dominated media coverage Tuesday, White House officials say they’re focused on reaching outside the D.C. echo chamber to make sure folks who are eligible — and mandated — to purchase health insurance through state-by-state virtual marketplaces get themselves on the rolls of the new safety-net program.

(Also on POLITICO: Understanding Obamacare guide)

That will include a heavy dose of Twitter and celebrity endorsements, according to Tara McGuinness, the White House point person for Obamacare communications.

“The administration will kick off a national #GetCovered Day of Action — where American citizens, community leaders, artists and mayors will be encouraged to take to social media to spread the word about getting covered,” she wrote in an email to reporters. “Throughout the entire day, the #GetCovered hashtag will be seen by millions of Americans and provide an opportunity to share information, pictures and video with their friends, neighbors and fans.”

Actresses Alyssa Milano and Kerry Washington, and singer John Legend are among the celebrities who have agreed to promote the law to their fans, according to Reuters.

President Barack Obama and his aides have acknowledged that it may take some time for the enrollment process to work smoothly. Consumers were beset Tuesday by long wait times online, error messages, and blank drop-down boxes on Internet sign-up forms. The hybrid system of state and federal administration of the program created uneven experiences for people in different parts of the country, with some signing up easily and others unable to access websites or complete the enrollment process.

“Like every new law, every new product roll out, there are going to be some glitches in the signup process along the way that we will fix,” Obama said in the Rose Garden Tuesday.

Ironically, Obamacare appears to be benefiting from a government shutdown staged over GOP demands that Obama agree to defund it or delay its implementation. Republican lawmakers spent much of Tuesday arguing over a path forward on funding the government’s basic operations and whether to refuse to raise the nation’s debt limit — which the Treasury Department says will be breached later this month without congressional action. That robbed them of the opportunity to make political hay over the first-day glitches in the system.

“I do sort of regret that this message is getting confused with the rollout,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) told POLITICO. “It’s going to be a disaster for consumers,” he said, but “I’m afraid less attention may be paid to it.”

In that way, the fiscal showdown consuming the political class provides cover for the White House to run its enrollment campaign without full-scale interference from the small but significant corps of congressional Republicans who say the law is an abomination. There’s also an inherent risk for Republicans who choose to bash the law amid the budget crisis: Many of their constituents simply want information on how to get the new insurance subsidies.

Still, the White House has its work cut out in signing up enough Americans to make the law work as intended. The Department of Health and Human Services reported that 2.8 million people visited the federal Obamacare Website www.healthcare.gov over a 15-hour span on Tuesday, but the number of people who actually enrolled remains a mystery.

McGuinness pointed only to the numbers in Kentucky — the gold standard for state health insurance exchanges so far — where 2,000 people applied for coverage on Tuesday. The figures appeared to be lower in many other states, according to various news accounts.

The White House noted that seven times as many people logged on to the website Tuesday as have ever been on www.medicare.gov at the same time, a measure that may look more robust than it is because people 65 and older — the set eligible for Medicare — don’t appear to have the same affinity for technology as the younger group for whom the Obamacare insurance subsidies are designed.

“Internet use remains strongly correlated with age, educational attainment, and household income,” the Pew Internet and American Life Project reported a week ago. “One of the strongest patterns in the data on Internet use is by age group: 44% of Americans ages 65 and older do not use the Internet, and these older Americans make up almost half (49%) of non-Internet users overall.”

Time is on the administration’s side, though, as consumers have until March 31 to register, and the White House’s Wednesday push has a first-day-of-the-rest-of-Obamacare feel.

“Dozens of influencers with millions of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram followers have committed to be part of the #GetCovered campaign to promote enrollment,” McGuinness wrote. The effort “includes a central hub that will house assets, including signs, social media icons, and other digital assets to share.”

POLITICO – TOP Stories

Obamacare"s Day 2 message: Forget Washington

Obamacare"s Day 2 message: Forget Washington

Ironically, Obamacare appears to be benefiting from the government shutdown. | AP Photo

If there’s one message coming out of the White House about the Obamacare sign-up period, it’s this: Forget Washington.

While the nation’s capital remains in shutdown mode, lost in a seemingly hopeless partisan clash over whether the rest of the government’s operations and its creditworthiness should be held captive to the health care law, the administration’s six-month window to “enroll America” enters Day Two on Wednesday.

Continue Reading

After a series of first-day foul-ups that dominated media coverage Tuesday, White House officials say they’re focused on reaching outside the D.C. echo chamber to make sure folks who are eligible — and mandated — to purchase health insurance through state-by-state virtual marketplaces get themselves on the rolls of the new safety-net program.

(Also on POLITICO: Understanding Obamacare guide)

That will include a heavy dose of Twitter and celebrity endorsements, according to Tara McGuinness, the White House point person for Obamacare communications.

“The administration will kick off a national #GetCovered Day of Action — where American citizens, community leaders, artists and mayors will be encouraged to take to social media to spread the word about getting covered,” she wrote in an email to reporters. “Throughout the entire day, the #GetCovered hashtag will be seen by millions of Americans and provide an opportunity to share information, pictures and video with their friends, neighbors and fans.”

Actresses Alyssa Milano and Kerry Washington, and singer John Legend are among the celebrities who have agreed to promote the law to their fans, according to Reuters.

President Barack Obama and his aides have acknowledged that it may take some time for the enrollment process to work smoothly. Consumers were beset Tuesday by long wait times online, error messages, and blank drop-down boxes on Internet sign-up forms. The hybrid system of state and federal administration of the program created uneven experiences for people in different parts of the country, with some signing up easily and others unable to access websites or complete the enrollment process.

“Like every new law, every new product roll out, there are going to be some glitches in the signup process along the way that we will fix,” Obama said in the Rose Garden Tuesday.

Ironically, Obamacare appears to be benefiting from a government shutdown staged over GOP demands that Obama agree to defund it or delay its implementation. Republican lawmakers spent much of Tuesday arguing over a path forward on funding the government’s basic operations and whether to refuse to raise the nation’s debt limit — which the Treasury Department says will be breached later this month without congressional action. That robbed them of the opportunity to make political hay over the first-day glitches in the system.

“I do sort of regret that this message is getting confused with the rollout,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) told POLITICO. “It’s going to be a disaster for consumers,” he said, but “I’m afraid less attention may be paid to it.”

In that way, the fiscal showdown consuming the political class provides cover for the White House to run its enrollment campaign without full-scale interference from the small but significant corps of congressional Republicans who say the law is an abomination. There’s also an inherent risk for Republicans who choose to bash the law amid the budget crisis: Many of their constituents simply want information on how to get the new insurance subsidies.

Still, the White House has its work cut out in signing up enough Americans to make the law work as intended. The Department of Health and Human Services reported that 2.8 million people visited the federal Obamacare Website www.healthcare.gov over a 15-hour span on Tuesday, but the number of people who actually enrolled remains a mystery.

McGuinness pointed only to the numbers in Kentucky — the gold standard for state health insurance exchanges so far — where 2,000 people applied for coverage on Tuesday. The figures appeared to be lower in many other states, according to various news accounts.

The White House noted that seven times as many people logged on to the website Tuesday as have ever been on www.medicare.gov at the same time, a measure that may look more robust than it is because people 65 and older — the set eligible for Medicare — don’t appear to have the same affinity for technology as the younger group for whom the Obamacare insurance subsidies are designed.

“Internet use remains strongly correlated with age, educational attainment, and household income,” the Pew Internet and American Life Project reported a week ago. “One of the strongest patterns in the data on Internet use is by age group: 44% of Americans ages 65 and older do not use the Internet, and these older Americans make up almost half (49%) of non-Internet users overall.”

Time is on the administration’s side, though, as consumers have until March 31 to register, and the White House’s Wednesday push has a first-day-of-the-rest-of-Obamacare feel.

“Dozens of influencers with millions of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram followers have committed to be part of the #GetCovered campaign to promote enrollment,” McGuinness wrote. The effort “includes a central hub that will house assets, including signs, social media icons, and other digital assets to share.”

POLITICO – TOP Stories

Obamacare"s Day 2 message: Forget Washington