Preaching to the Choir: Obama on Sunday Morning Television

It's not the first we've seen of President Obama on health care reform, and it definitely won't be the last. In a Sunday morning media blitz, the president answered questions in his familiar measured and reasonable manner.

On This Week with George Stephanopoulos, when confronted with the notion that a health insurance mandate for the American people amounted to a tax, the president seemed slightly miffed, noting that mandatory car insurance in most states isn't viewed that way. He has a point. Most of us look at mandatory auto insurance as protection against potential calamity, and it begs the question why there is such resistance to viewing health insurance that way.

The bigger question is about the demographic reached on Sunday morning political news shows. Aren't those of us who watch these shows in lieu of attendance elsewhere already discerning enough to contemplate differing points of view? And are we the intended audience or are we the choir that President Obama is preaching to on this subject? I, for one, didn't have to be sold on health care reform. I don't have to be sold on a public option or lowering costs or even filling the donut hole that affects seniors on Medicare, though I am not a senior.

So what was the point of these appearances? Well, perhaps it was to give the naysayers continuous and credible opposition. After all, if the president of the United States wants to come on your TV show, are you really going to say no?

I found the most interesting question and answer also coming from This Week with George Stephanopoulos, though it wasn't meant to be directed at health care. When the president was asked if he had any similar surprising reactions to President John F. Kennedy's meeting with Nikita Khrushchev in which Kennedy "had his clock cleaned" by the Soviet leader, Obama said that his biggest and most humbling surprise had come not from a foreign leader, but from the American people. My translation: He can't believe that we're stupid enough to resist the kind of change that would actually benefit us.

His genuine surprise at that may be the most naive thing I've heard him say to date. Even I could have told him that. We like the idea of change more than the actuality of it. Even those who stand to gain the most from improved health care, like the state of South Carolina, for instance, let the fear-mongering stand in the way of genuine progress.

Former president Jimmy Carter suggested to the surprise of many that the vitriol in the protests of last weekend were at least partially racially motivated. This sparked denial and outrage from the always-inclusive right led by Rush Limbaugh and fidgety discomfort from the left. I don't really know how you can look at posters of Obama painted as an African witch doctor as anything other than racist, but maybe that's just me.

On the Sunday morning shows the president tried his best neither to dismiss racism nor give it too much emphasis, but I say that when an eighty-five-year-old white man who has lived in the south all his life and has been diplomatic enough to bring warring factions in the Middle East to the table is telling you racism is alive and well, we shouldn't doubt it. I applaud Carter's candor and outspokenness on the subject. I live in the south.

While we don't know if the president's visibility in the media is going to increase public support of his health care goals, at least it is keeping the discussion alive and ongoing. And in our uniquely American climate of short attention spans, that is quite an achievement.

Comments

[swerdie]

Just found your blog on blogspot.com. I LOVED it. You're an amazing writer. Can't wait to read more.

[surfcitysteven]

Preaching to the choir? Some of the choir needed to hear it. Not all choirboys stay saintly.

[swerdie]

Amen Sister! I loved your essay. We need a viable public healthcare option. Our rating of 37th in healthcare is a failure for the greatest country in the world. We, through our representatives, have a wonderful opportunity to create the best healthcare system in the world. As Americans we deserve no less. We've paid for unnecessary war and corporate greed, why not actually pay for something that benefits us in a positive, personal way. And if they can't agree on a system, let's use France's model. The democrats need to grow a pair and get this done. If the republicans are unable to contribute in a meaningful way, they need to sit down and shut up.

[WorkingClass]

While we don't know if the president's visibility in the media is going to increase public support of his health care goals, at least it is keeping the discussion alive and ongoing.

Public support means nothing. The United States Senate is bought and paid for. Yes you can vote them out. They will make even more money as lobbyists. The people already voted overwhelminly for change in the last two elections. It means exactly nothing.

[fallingsky]

UMMM Bill Clinton also thought Carter was delusional in his race card playing

[Angiefranci]

Yes, I think Obama probably figures that since the yapping of the media is endless, he should try to have his say and not be flooded out.

[JohnnyD1220]

I am a fan of John Cusack's movies and read that he often makes entries here, so thought I'd take a look at this site. One somewhat silly movie of his that I enjoy is America's Sweethearts, a story about a Hollywood studio trying to sell people on the merits of a movie that the director hasn't given to the studio. Apparently, they are determined to release the movie on a certain date and trying to sell the press & public on its merits when all they can show them is 20 seconds of title & credits, but not the body of the film (starting to sound familar). They have a secret weapon, a somewhat glamorous though vapid, vain movie star with whom the public is so enthralled that people will believe any tripe she utters, (sound like any one in public life?). As part of the campaign to sell this hype, a publicist arranges for members of the press to be allowed 5 minute closely controlled private interviews without being privy to any comments made by the others, of course only the information the studio wants disseminated is made available, (gee this sounds like real life). It made for an amusing romantic comedy, but it's hardly the way our government should conduct business.

[talkinhedz]

dude..your quite a gifted writer..kudos!

[Charmed]

And our government officials shouldn't be running around talking about "pulling the plug on grandma" (sound like anyone coughGRASSLEYcough in public life)?

[swerdie]

I'm confused, Obama never said that, only the republicans talk about pulling the plug on grandma, so what's your point?

[GTRich2004]

Too Funny, I thought of the exact same scene when I found out that the president pre-taped the interviews. It also made the people who hyped the whole "president went through the gauntlet of doing all the Sunday morning shows" claims pretty silly. It's pretty easy to do 4 or 5 Sunday shows when you tape the interview 3 or 4 days in advance.

[missmarguerite]

Great article! Very informative.

[pnc]

an excellent and original commentary. thank you for a common sense perspective.