Democrats have announced plans to develop a message that will convince the public that health care reform is a good thing. Not a bad idea. But who on God's green earth decided that now was the time to build support for health care reform? The Affordable Health Care Act was signed into law in 2009. Why did Democrats give opponents a year and a half head start on defining 'Obamacare?' Why did they let opponents convince half the American public that stopping health insurance companies from screwing people would precipitate the end of western civilization as we know it? Why did they wait until they lost the House and nearly lost the Senate to try to develop a coherent, persuasive message?
It's just what Democrats do. Doo da doo. Amazingly, there is still a window of opportunity for them to mount an effective communication campaign and build broader support for health care reform. Why?
First, most of the opponents' claims turned out to be shameless lies. That may sound a bit sweeping but it's true. The opposition has little interest in sound public policy. Rather, they're completely focused on winning, and they'll say absolutely anything to prevail. But, what's happening is that as more people experience the benefits of health care reform -- kids getting to stay on parents' policies until age 26; no yearly maximums on coverage; no exclusions for preexisting conditions; a little financial help for seniors whose Medicare prescription drug costs are in the "donut hole" -- they're realizing that the opponents' catastrophic claims are simply not true.
Second, despite a few early Republican statements about wanting to improve health care coverage, not just repeal it, they have offered absolutely nothing to improve or take its place. So, people are beginning to snap to the fact that Republican leaders don't really give a rat's butt about health care. They ran the House, Senate and White House for years and never mentioned the words. They are intent on trying to deny President Obama any kind of victory. If he'd come out against health care reform in 2009, they'd be for it.
Make no mistake; it will be an uphill climb for Democrats. Rather than trying to convince undecideds, they have to change minds; to undo what's been done. That's always more difficult, even when facts are your side, because there's already a message imprinted that must be erased before a new and conflicting message will even be considered.
Another difficulty is that existing messages opposing health care are based on appeals to emotion rather than reason:
"It's socialized medicine." "It's a huge government takeover." "It was all worked out in backrooms, and then rammed through Congress." "It will add trillions to the federal deficit." "It's a job killer." "Government bureaucrats will make decisions about your health care." "It creates Death Panels."
Communication scholars tell us such messages are received and processed in different parts of the brain than messages aimed at reason; processed more quickly and more deeply etched. To be maximally effective, they're framed and couched in terms that make them congruent with the target audience's strongly held views and values. Once they're accepted, there's an "emotional equity," which makes changing minds tough.
The opponents' emotionally-charged claims are textbook examples of a classic propaganda technique -- the Big Lie. As history shows, one of the ways to make the Big Lie work is to tell it again and again and again, and that's certainly been no problem for healthcare opponents. They're saying the same things today they were saying in 2009, even though facts, analysis and actual experience have largely proved them wrong. They just keep singing the same song.
There are very few second acts in politics. The Democrats have an opportunity, but they need to get this one right.