Desperate For Win On Government-Run Health Care Experiment, Obama Shifts Strategy For Twelfth Time
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 HOW MANY "NEW STRATEGIES" DOES OBAMA NEED ON GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE?
White House Launched New PR Blitz, Announcing New Strategy. "David Axelrod, the public face of this strategy shift, said listeners to Obama's speech would get 'a clear sense of what he proposes and what health care reform is not.'" (Ben Pershing, "Health-Care Speech Set, Details To Come," The Washington Post's "44: The Obama Presidency" Blog, 9/3/09)
ABC News' "The Note" Ponders Via Twitter:
"How Many Times Have We Heard About A New Obama Strategy On Healthcare? How Many Times Has There Actually Been A New Strategy?" (The Note, Twitter.com, 9/2/09)
WHITE HOUSE HAS HIT RESET BUTTON ELEVEN TIMES ALREADY
STRATEGY SHIFT 1: May 13 - White House Attempting To Get Congressional Dems Behind Unified Message. "The White House scrambled Wednesday to get Democrats behind a unified message of affordability and choice on health legislation amid concerns that Republicans could scare the public with images of a health care system run by bureaucrats. ... Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., said, 'There was some unease that we didn't have a strategy so (Axelrod) was coming up to reassure senators that they do have a strategy.' As part of that strategy the White House has streamlined its health reform goals, repackaging eight principles Obama outlined in February into three that he touts now: lowering costs, giving people more choices in health coverage and providing affordable care for all)." (Erica Werner, "Democrats Press Message On Health Care," The Associated Press, 5/13/09)
STRATEGY SHIFT 2: June 1 - Favoring A Three-Pillar, Positive Message Strategy. "The White House is opting for a 'positive message' strategy on its health care overhaul, doing little so far to directly engage the emerging plan by conservatives to characterize President Barack Obama's proposals as a path toward rationed care. ... White House aides describe 'three pillars' of a message strategy that will be pounded out all summer: that Obama supports plans to lower costs, preserve choice in the system and expand coverage. ... With an eye on the grass roots, the White House will also coordinate with lawmakers - including the chairmen of the relevant committees and rank-and-file backers of Obama's ideas - who will be tasked with taking Obama's health reform message home to their d istricts and states." (Keith Koffler, "The Rose Garden: Obama, Foes Unleash Messages On Health," Roll Call, 6/1/09)
STRATEGY SHIFT 3: June 7 - Retreating From "All-On-The-Table" Approach. "The White House, backing away from President Barack Obama's 'it's-all-on-the-table' approach initially advocated, prepared to get louder and more involved in the details of a health care overhaul that officials once were content to leave to Congress, administration officials said Saturday." (Philip Elliott and Erica Werner, "Obama Team Plans More Active Role On Health Care," The Associated Press, 6/7/09)
STRATEGY SHIFT 4: June 8 - Laying Down Specific Markers. "Throughout the first months of his administration, President Obama was resolutely fuzzy about the details of health-care reform. Last week, he modified that strategy, which was designed to avoid a repetition of the dictated-from-on-high approach of the Clinton health-care debacle. In a letter to Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who are leading the legislative process in the Senate, Mr. Obama laid down more specific markers than he had previously about his preferences." (Editorial, "A Few Symptoms," The Washington Post, 6/8/09)
STRATEGY SHIFT 5 - June 23: Posting Online Stories To Humanize Debate. "Through thousands of personal stories like these posted online, President Obama
is setting out to humanize the health-care debate and push Congress to pass serious reform. He aims to ensure, in the words of one White House adviser, 'that we don't get sucked in by the Washington discussion.' ... As the Obama
team members plotted strategy, images of "Harry and Louise" -- the TV ad characters who became the faces of the successful industry challenge to Clinton -era health reforms -- danced in their heads. To prevent a repeat, strategists looked to campaign tactics." (Peter Slevin, "Obama Turns To Grass Roots To Push Health Reform," The Washington Post, 6/23/09)
STRATEGY SHIFT 6: June 30 - Coaching Governors In Effort To Move Debate To States. "In a meeting last week with five governors -- including Republicans who may be more sympathetic to health legislation than those on Capitol Hill -- Mr. Obama privately urged them to serve as his emissaries to Congress. He even coached them on the language they should use with lawmakers, two of the governors said, advising them to avoid terms like 'rationing' and 'managed care,' which evoke bitter memories of the Clintons' ill-fated health initiative. The hourlong session in the Roosevelt Room was part of an intensifying but potentially risky White House strategy to shift the health care debate away from Washington and to the states." (Sheryl Gay Stolberg, "Obama Steers Health Debate Out Of Capital," The New York Times, 6/30/09)
STRATEGY SHIFT 7: July 20 - Moving From Low Visibility To "All Obama, All The Time." "With skepticism about the president's health care reform effort mounting on Capitol Hill -- even within his own party -- the White House has launched a new phase of its strategy designed to dramatically increase public pressure on Congress: all Obama, all the time. ... 'Our strategy has been to allow this process to advance to the point where it made sense for the president to take the baton. Now's that time,' said senior adviser David Axelrod. 'I don't know whether he will Twitter or tweet. But he's going to be very, very visible.'" (Michael D. Shear And Shailagh Murray, "President Is Set To 'Take The Baton,'" < A href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/19/AR2009071901465.html">The Washington Post, 7/20/09)
STRATEGY SHIFT 8: July 22 - Changing Rhetoric From Health Care Reform To Health Insurance Reform. "In his Wednesday night address, Obama talked about 'health insurance reform' a noticeable shift from the 'health care reform' he had been talking up until late last week. ... But the term also has distinctive political advantages. Insurance reform, insiders say, likely polls better than a more general reform message because it targets something voters know, understand and don't particularly like. And, it has the added bonus of setting up the insurance industry as a political punching bag." (Chris Frates, "Obama's New Term: 'Insurance Reform,'" Politico, 7/22/09)
STRATEGY SHIFT 9: August 2 - Planning "More Modest Approach." "From the start of his presidency, Barack Obama made clear that his plan for enacting comprehensive health-care reform came down to three words: fast, broad and bipartisan. That was then. Now, as lawmakers begin to flee Washington for a month-long recess, the White House team is retooling its message and strategy, hoping a more modest approach will reinvigorate Obama's signature domestic policy initiative and give him a first-year victory for Democrats to carry into the 2010 midterm elections." (Ceci Connolly, "Obama Trims Sails On Health Reform," The Washington Post, 8/2/09)
STRATEGY SHIFT 10: August 19 - Shifting Message "To Talk More About The Moral Imperative." "President Barack Obama, trying to regain control of the health-care debate, will likely shift his pitch in September, White House and Democratic officials said, as he faces pressure from supporters to talk more about the moral imperative to provide health insurance to all Americans. ... The president's revised health-care emphasis is likely to roll out as summer ends, when White House officials believe a broader group of voters will tune into the debate. The new strategy envisions speeches rather than informal town-hall meetings, said a senior official." (Jonathan Weisman, "White House Rethinks How It Sells He alth Overhaul," The Wall Street Journal, 8/19/09)
STRATEGY SHIFT 11: September 1 - Getting More Specific About Policy. "This time, the President is going to be specific. Next week, President Obama is going to give Democrats a health care plan they can begin to sell. He plans to list specific goals that any health insurance reform plan that arrives at his desk must achieve, according to Democratic strategists familiar with the plan." (Marc Ambinder, "Something New On Health Care: Deal-Breakers From The President," The Atlantic's "Politics" Blog, 9/1/09)
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