Obama Faces 'Scare Tactics' Head-On

President Obama began a personal effort Tuesday to reclaim momentum for his health-care initiative with a direct rebuttal of what he called "scare tactics," rumors and misrepresentations.

At a town hall meeting that had the feel of a campaign rally, administration officials sought to tap the skill in confronting public doubts and fears that helped Obama win the White House. Aides who worked on his campaign are now sharpening his health-care message, they said.

"Every time we come close to passing health insurance reform, the special interests fight back with everything they've got," the president told a friendly crowd of 1,800. "They use their influence. They use their political allies to scare and mislead the American people. They start running ads. This is what they always do. We can't let them do it again. Not this time. Not now."

Obama delivered the message as anger flared outside his event and at congressional town hall gatherings nationwide, sentiments that his top advisers say they take seriously even as they decry what they view as a mix of genuine outrage and ginned-up activism.

As the president spoke, demonstrators outside held posters declaring him a socialist and dubbing him "Obamahdinejad," in reference to Iran's president. People screamed into bullhorns to protest a bigger government role in health care. "Nobama Deathcare!" one sign read. A young girl held up a sign that said: "Obama Lies, Grandma Dies." Images of a protester wearing what appeared to be a gun were shown on television.

Senior adviser David Axelrod said the president had for weeks been "relishing" the opportunity to engage with people to defend his efforts to overhaul the health-care system.

"His instinct whenever there is controversy or debate is to wade in and speak directly to people," Axelrod said. "There is a whole lot of misinformation out there. The best way to deal with it is directly."

He said the angry crowds at congressional town hall meetings do not reflect the larger society.

"Most Americans are interested and concerned about this issue and are listening intently," he said. "There are people on all sides of the debate who are a little over the edge. They tend to be the best TV."

In Pennsylvania, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) faced an unruly audience that booed and jeered as he attempted to respond to accusations that the legislation pending in Congress would allow the government to deny them care, steal money from their bank accounts and obliterate private insurance.

"You can do whatever the hell you please to do," one angry man yelled at Specter. "One day God's going to stand before you, and he's going to judge you and the rest of your damned cronies up on the Hill. And then you'll get your just desserts."

Obama's top advisers said they have been adjusting their tactics and message to confront the often caustic public debate.

www.washingtonpost.com...

Well it looks like the propaganda machine is hard at work.

Originally posted by warrenb
Well it looks like the propaganda machine is hard at work.

Very much so! But you do need to push pretty hard to make something like public health care seem demonic & evil.

Public health care is something that most western countries have and IT WORKS, sure not always perfectly, but mostly.

The simple fact is that doctors & hospitals shouldn't be driven by profits. It's really a no brainer.

But there are huge economic risks at stake here. That's why we're seeing the massive amounts of spin and regurgitating of nonsense about "death panels" and so forth.

The harder this type of propaganda is being pushed by Fox & company the more I believe that Obama actually might stand for something other than business as usual

I can never tell which mouth Obama is speaking out of. The man is a prostitute for the special interest groups. They funded the majority of his campaign. The same type of special interests that he claims are trying to overthrow his maniacal plans.

Big pharma is pushing the passing of government healthcare reform with all of its might. Their lawyers probably wrote most of the bill. They've got $150 to $200 million earmarked for the big campaign to push this through.

Unfortunately, we have no way of tracking the money spent to buy votes on the Hill. Skeptic Overload spelled it out in his latest thread.

I'm still trying to unearth the reasoning for all this.

Not one bone in my body believes the govt. in any way, shape or form is doing this for the benefit of it's people. The rush job here is what stinks the worst. Fine, some say health care reform is long overdue, but is it worth being rushed through and passed?

Why is it pertinent at this time? Why the sky-is-falling treatment? What are we not being told?

reply to post by orderedchaos


The big push seems to tie into the the pending doom of a massive swine flu outbreak this Fall. They need the people to be dependent on the govt. for all elements of sustainability. hmm makes me wonder at times.

Obama is just upset that he didn't get the birthday gift he wanted.

If Obama had scared his own party from the get go and united them, he wouldn't have to worry about these scare tactics he speaks about.

As I understand it and I could be wrong on this so a correction/clarification would be welcomed, but doesn't this plan take effect in 2013?

Most of the proposed changes intended to reduce the number of uninsured Americans and relieve some of the costs of health care are slated in the House legislation to take effect in 2013. These include the government-sponsored health insurance plan, or "public option," and the health insurance exchange -- the marketplace where individuals and small businesses will be able to find cheaper insurance plans.

www.cbsnews.com...

So why the mad rush? Even if swine flu were to break out in some superform the minute this bill is passed it wouldn't do anything in the here and now so why the mad rush? What sky is going to fall? I think it's a red herring and the issue is being used to divide this country and many different lines. Rahm Emmanual has said you never want to let a crisis go to waste so is the White House trying to create one to push some agenda? The liberal media seems to be chomping at the bit to totally spin this on the Republicans and their base as the reason it's not being done. The Democrats don't need the Republicans to pass anything. If it's such a great plan then why not pass it themselves and take all the glory? Does anyone else see this whole thing as being "fishy"?

Originally posted by Kords21
As I understand it and I could be wrong on this so a correction/clarification would be welcomed, but doesn't this plan take effect in 2013?

Because they want/need an excuse to begin siphoning the dollars, NOW.

They need that accounting code to justify the deficit (laundering) on their balance sheet.

Will that money actually go towards health care? hmmm...

Well, it seems they've bought themselves 4 years and an entire Presidential term to hide (er, I mean 'figure out') where the money actually did go.

Gotta hurry, HURRY! Before the next fiscal year.