Barack Obama: health care reform salesman in chief
Barack Obama will take part in a prime time network TV interview on health care next week -- a clear sign he intends to remain salesman in chief for his administration鈥檚 plan to overhaul the US medical system.
Selling in the morning and in prime time
Announcement of the prime time interview came shortly before President Obama was slated to begin a lunch hour speech Monday to the American Medical Association convention in Chicago. ABC News said the president had agreed to a prime time interview on health care to be aired at 10 p.m. on Wednesday, June 24. The broadcast, hosted by Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer, will include a live audience and the president will answer questions from viewers. In addition to the prime time program, Ms. Sawyer will also interview the president for 鈥�Good Morning America.鈥�
Obama鈥檚 speech to the AMA was a highly detailed, nearly hour-long argument for a major overhaul of the US approach to health care. Calling the $2 trillion cost of the current system a 鈥渢icking time bomb,鈥� the President said that 鈥渋f we do not fix our health care system, America may go the way of GM; paying more, getting less, and going broke.鈥�
A mix of ovations and scattered boos
While the AMA has been skeptical about an increased government role in health care, a report from the press pool accompanying the president said he got several standing ovations during the speech. There were also scattered boos when the President said he did not favor capping malpractice awards. Audience reponse was tepid -- only a small scattering of applause -- when he mentioned wanting to provide a public health insurance plan to compete with commercial insurers.
The president鈥檚 impassioned remarks come amid doubts and criticism about the administration鈥檚 health care proposals both from impartial observers and friends. Robert Samuelson, Newsweek鈥檚 influential economic columnist, said in an op-ed in Monday鈥檚 Washington Post that, 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to know whether President Obama鈥檚 health care 鈥榬eform鈥� is na茂ve, hypocritical, or simply dishonest. Probably all three.鈥�
Samuelson argued that the current fee for service approach encourages doctors and hospitals to provide more services, especially new medical technologies. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the crux of the health care dilemma and Obama hasn鈥檛 confronted it,鈥� Samuelson charges.
A public weighing the risk of change
Meanwhile Stanley Greenberg, a well-known Democratic strategist and Bill Clinton鈥檚 pollster, warns in the New Republic that the public continues to have significant doubts about health reform, as it did in 1993 when the last major effort to reform the system failed. 鈥淭he country divides evenly on whether the greater risk is an unchanged status quo or government reforms that 鈥榗reate new problems,鈥欌�� Greenberg said.
鈥淥bama might want to pay attention to how closely his situation echoes Clinton鈥檚,鈥� Greenberg wrote. 鈥淭hen and now, more people favor the president鈥檚 health care plan than oppose it, but the supporters make up less than a majority.鈥�
