I can’t disagree with Mario at all. Mario’s beef with the Dems is on health care and how they have run away from it. That is just ridiculous in and of itself!
On Thursday, the Republicans rolled out their “Pledge to America”. The same day that the Dems rolled out the first round of new rules from the Health Care Reform Bill. The major news coverage centered around the Republican’s fake pledge. My personal feeling is that the Dems should have planned a major publicity roll out and campaign ads based on the new provisions. Instead, as usual, they allowed the Republicans to take over the messaging for that day. It’s just damn ridiculous.
With major provisions of the health care bill kicking in this week, Peter Hart, a pollster, was asked what it would take for Democrats to sell the bill to a wary public.
Does the White House need to change its message/strategy on health care? Yes. I think the difficulty is that the White House has not really had a single strategy or good strategy. I think there was, sort of, the expectation in the White House that the day they signed the bill that everybody would come on board. And I think what they need to do is essentially go back to what I would say are the basics. ‘Here’s what the bill’s about. Here’s why it makes a difference. Here’s why it’s good for you and it’s good for America.’
Exactly. Dems need to be out there daily talking about the health care bill instead of running away from it.
Polls show that individual provisions are popular but the overall bill is not. How do you explain that?
The reason the overall bill is less popular than the elements is that it is like so many pieces of legislation. You only need to find the one link to be able to cut a hole there and the chain fence essentially unravels. And I think that’s in part what’s happened with this.
I think overall the public doesn’t know, doesn’t understand it enough and has fear in terms of ‘what it means for me.’
And what we see here is a great division. And the division, not surprisingly, breaks along the lines of ‘I like Obama’ or ‘I don’t like Obama.’
The right has done a number of misinforming the public on exactly what is in the bill which is why it is urgent that Dems step forward and blast away at the misinformation.
Should Democratic candidates downplay health care or [should they] really be talking about this?
I would opt for avoiding the subject rather than wading into the subject. I think the biggest difficulty here is not the question of what’s in the bill, it’s the perception of what people think this bill would do.
Sigh. In that answer you find exactly what is wrong with the Democratic Party. They’re wusses who refuse to stand up for what they believe in and cower in the face of any opposition. After making a solid argument as to why Democrats should be pushing the benefits of the new health care bill, this pollster advises Dems to keep silent on it. Why? If he is right and there is a misconception by Americans on how the bill affects their lives, then would it not be prudent for Dems to set them straight?
What is wrong with these people?
Related Articles
- Dems guess wrong on health care (politico.com)
- Health Care Roundup: 10 Reforms Take Effect Today; the GOP’s Health Care Agenda (blogher.com)
- Why Did the DCCC Lie to Their Members About Health Care? (fdlaction.firedoglake.com)
- First Thoughts: The Pledge (firstread.msnbc.msn.com)
- White House looks to boost health law at 6 months (sfgate.com)
