White House's Botched Photo Op (Labcoat-gate)

New York Post

The physicians, all invited guests, were told to bring their white lab coats to make sure that TV cameras captured the image.

But some docs apparently forgot, failing to meet the White House dress code by showing up in business suits or dresses.

So the White House rustled up white coats for them and handed them to the suited physicians who had taken seats in the sun-splashed lawn area.

All this to provide a visual counter to complaints from other doctors that pending legislation is bad news for the medical profession.

"Nobody has more credibility with the American people on this issue than you do," Obama told his guests

:shk: Obama has the audacity to talk about credibility. :shk:

Kinda reminds me of the campaign when Obama's folks went around looking for more white people to be in the audience when obama gave speeches. Remember the 'Get me more white people" story?

ABC News
(there is a thread somewhere on here about this story .. couldn't find it)

Let's REALLY talk about credible numbers - (not Obama's version of credible) New York Post Story
Why Doctors Hate BamCare

TWO-thirds of doctors "oppose the proposed health-care plan," reports an Investors Busi ness Daily/TIPP poll. Almost half would "consider leaving their practice or taking an early retirement" if "Congress passes its health-care plan." Many of my colleagues feel like we're already struggling -- nor are we prepared to take care of tens of millions more patients.

An Association of American Medical Colleges survey predicts a doctor shortage of 150,000 (at current rates of population growth) by 2025 if universal health insurance is adopted. The doctors we do have would be overwhelmed with far more patients than we could realistically take care of. We'd have to work under huge time pressures, and the service we could deliver would decline.

Those who didn't quit would have to learn to "game" the new system by seeing more patients, doing more procedures, providing less care per patient and becoming less accessible for health-choice discussions.

No transparency ...

They're obviously the Doctors and sicentists in favour of the White House, Shame none of them had the guts to come without a white coat , and then refuse to wear them if they were handed out.
Or just get up and leave, that would've been pure class, but unfortunately money talks in this case..

That would be hilarious if it wasn't so down right shameful. I wonder how many of them weren't even doctors, just some lobbiest in a white coat.

-E-

Originally posted by MysterE
I wonder how many of them weren't even doctors,

I didnt' even think of that.

According to news sources, the group that were there was made up of mostly people from 'Doctors for Obama' .. which recently changed it's name to be less obvious ... Doctors for America.

The White House claims that 'only' 40 of the 150 people there were with Doctors for Obama.

AMA association

gateway

But the doctors in the Rose Garden were all supporters of health care reform -- and the invitation-only guest list drew heavily from Doctors for America, a grassroots organization that backs a government-run insurance option.

Roughly 98 percent of the group's 15,000 members support a public insurance option, Doctors for America spokeswoman Megan Smith told FOXNews.com. She said roughly 40 of the 150 doctors who attended the meeting were from the organization.

Ahh! More smoke and mirrors from the Obama infomercial machine. If only Billy Mayes were still alive perhaps he could have pitched the same nonsense.

Nothing like speaking to another captive audience Obama. When will the charade ever end.

The White House is resorting to used car sales tactics to push Obamacare through. That is a sign of desperation.

I wonder if the ShamWow guy is looking for work? He would make a great pitchman!!!

Originally posted by FlyersFan

TWO-thirds of doctors "oppose the proposed health-care plan," reports an Investors Busi ness Daily/TIPP poll. Almost half would "consider leaving their practice or taking an early retirement" if "Congress passes its health-care plan." Many of my colleagues feel like we're already struggling -- nor are we prepared to take care of tens of millions more patients.

Those alarming results come from a very shady poll...

IBD/TIPP Doctors Poll is not Trustworthy

I'm flying 35,000 feet somewhere over Eastern Ohio now -- isn't technology wonderful? -- so I can only comment on this briefly, but the Investors' Business Daily poll purporting to show widespread opposition to health care reform among doctors is simply not credible. There are five reasons why:

1. The survey was conducted by mail, which is unusual. The only other mail-based poll that I'm aware of is that conducted by the Columbus Dispatch, which was associated with an average error of about 7 percentage points -- the highest of any pollster that we tested.

2. At least one of the questions is blatantly biased: "Do you believe the government can cover 47 million more people and it will cost less money and th quality of care will be better?". Holy run-on-sentence, Batman? A pollster who asks a question like this one is not intending to be objective.

3. As we learned during the Presidntial campaign -- when, among other things, they had John McCain winning the youth vote 74-22 -- the IBD/TIPP polling operation has literally no idea what they're doing. I mean, literally none. For example, I don't trust IBD/TIPP to have competently selected anything resembling a random panel, which is harder to do than you'd think.

4. They say, somewhat ambiguously: "Responses are still coming in." This is also highly unorthodox. Professional pollsters generally do not report results before the survey period is compete.

5. There is virtually no disclosure about methodology. For example, IBD doesn't bother to define the term "practicing physician", which could mean almost anything. Nor do they explain how their randomization procedure worked, provide the entire question battery, or anything like that.

My advice would be to completely ignore this poll. There are pollsters out there that have an agenda but are highly competent, and there are pollsters that are nonpartisan but not particularly skilled. Rarely, however, do you find the whole package: that special pollster which is both biased and inept. IBD/TIPP is one of the few exceptions.

[edit on 10/6/2009 by clay2 baraka]

What I find hilarious is that people would actually think that doctors would show up in their white coats to a meeting with the president!

Of COURSE this is a Photo Op and the White House provided the coats. It was my very first thought when I saw it on TV. This surprises some of you? I can't believe it!

Just because some people are gullible, that doesn't mean the White House is hiding something. Clearly, they didn't intend to hide this. Or pictures wouldn't have been taken of them handing out the coats! In the Rose Garden, no less! This isn't "smoke and mirrors"... unless you're blind. This is all part of the Photo Op. Obama even made a comment about it in his speech!

[edit on 6-10-2009 by Benevolent Heretic]

It just goes to show how meticulously they plan every last detail out. They can't even just take a picture without manufacturing it to reflect how they want us to interpret what went on.

It's like nothing is real, raw, and candid anymore.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
What I find hilarious is that people would actually think that doctors would show up in their white coats to a meeting with the president!

Of COURSE this is a Photo Op and the White House provided the coats. It was my very first thought when I saw it on TV. This surprises some of you? I can't believe it!

Just because some people are gullible, that doesn't mean the White House is hiding something. Clearly, they didn't intend to hide this. Or pictures wouldn't have been taken of them handing out the coats!

In the Rose Garden, no less! This isn't "smoke and mirrors"... unless you're blind. This is all part of the Photo Op. Obama even made a comment about it in his speech!

[edit on 6-10-2009 by Benevolent Heretic]

I find it hilarious that the average Obama follower will easily take the bait, hook, line and sinker. That's why Obama handed out lab coats to doctors who did not bring one as instructed. I call it keeping up appearances and Obama is struggling on all fronts to do this. His support is falling just as fast as the value of the US Dollar.

These followers get their news from NBC and will never know the behind the scenes truth behind the "meeting". All they see are doctors who support Obama. Bottom line. Obama infomercial #26 mission accomplished.

He is faced by massive problems on all fronts right now and all he has time for is more parlor tricks which may or may not illicit more support for his ill conceived plan.

I would love to see him apply this same amount of effort to the war strategy in Afghanistan.

[edit on 6-10-2009 by jibeho]

Originally posted by jibeho
All they see are doctors who support Obama. Bottom line. Obama infomercial #26 mission accomplished.

Sometimes I forget about the "average American". You're right. The photo Op was a resounding success. Political brilliance as I said in another thread about it. But it's not like he was trying to hide it or it was "botched, as the OP suggests.

How is this a big deal? The psychological effects of uniforms are very, very well understood and are used by hundreds of people daily. Virtually every single advertisement on television utilizes these effects in order to convey authority or other things, from a man in a white lab coat (conveniently never labeled "doctor" to prevent suing) telling you this medicine is good for you to an image as simple as a man in a business suit smiling. The thing is the democrats are having difficulty with particularly stubborn republicans in passing their bill. It's going to pass, but sooner is better so other things can get done. So, they need as much support as possible. If doctors at a press event are wearing suits, they will not be immediately identified as doctors to the average joe shmoe. If wearing the stereotyped "doctor uniform", people will immediately identify them and pay more attention to what they have to say. Like, would you put much weight on military opinions from a youngish looking guy in a tuxedo on a talk show, only to find out a few days later he was an uncharacteristically young colonel out of uniform?

It really is nothing out of the ordinary whatsoever. It is politics. If you think this is unusual I highly encourage you to go back and look at George Bush's presidency once more. Remember what he was wearing during his little "Mission Accomplished" speech?

[edit on 6-10-2009 by JScytale]

Originally posted by JScytale
If you think this is unusual I highly encourage you to go back and look at George Bush's presidency once more.

I, and i'm sure many more people, have heard quite enough about George Bush. We know perfectly well what went on during his presidency, he was leader for 8 years after all. Pointing to him every time Obama screws up does not validate the current presidents actions. I'm honestly beginning to believe some of you are actually paid shills bound and determined to derail any discussion into a rant about George Bush. These sorts of actions by our government are nothing more then cheap propaganda. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, move along citizen.

I'm honestly beginning to believe some of you are actually paid shills bound and determined to derail any discussion into a rant about George Bush.

One sentence at the end of a post about psychological effects of uniforms. Gee, I sure intend to derail this conversation.

These sorts of actions by our government are nothing more then cheap propaganda. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, move along citizen.

Yes, they are. Its called politics. This kind of thing, in particular, is used by ANY human being in the world who wants to convince another human being of something. Everything from politicians to advertisers to salesmen to con artists. Uniforms or images of uniforms are of *tremendous* help. Something as simple as wearing a suit immediately makes people trust you more - and it is something which has been measured clinically.

remember: politics will never change unless other things that you wouldn't want to change change first.

As long as the citizenry have power (to any degree) over the government (in the US, voting), with the capability to vote someone out of office, and as long as the citizenry is free to express their views publicly without any fear of prosecution, politics will be a game of convincing the most people that you're on their side, that your stances are in their best interests, and hiding your flaws or mistakes. It is simply a matter of getting anything done at all and keeping your career alive. Just look at what sleeping with a secretary can do to your political reputation and career.

As long as America's brand of freedom continues to exist, politics will stay the same - and there is nothing you can do about it except allow a dictator to take power and hope he's one of those one-in-a-hundred benevolent ones. Dictator's end the bull# of politics rather quickly, but they bring in a WHOLE lot of new problems.

[edit on 6-10-2009 by JScytale]

Originally posted by MysterE
I wonder how many of them weren't even doctors, just some lobbiest in a white coat.

"I'm not a doctor, but I play one on television."

I guess that really doesn't matter. I just looked at this as another public relations infomercial to sell the American people Obama-Care. I wonder if he could get any doctors to stand up and say they loved the current Medicare/Medicaid system? I'm sure version 2.0 will work much better.

Originally posted by dbates

Originally posted by MysterE
I wonder how many of them weren't even doctors, just some lobbiest in a white coat.

"I'm not a doctor, but I play one on television."

I guess that really doesn't matter. I just looked at this as another public relations infomercial to sell the American people Obama-Care. I wonder if he could get any doctors to stand up and say they loved the current Medicare/Medicaid system? I'm sure version 2.0 will work much better.

well, when it comes to politics, you don't take those risks, especially in something this high profile. Something like that gets out and it taints the entire thing, meaning it is likely to crash. So, you'll never see a POLITICIAN hiring someone who is not an expert to appear as one - but every advertisement since, well, ever does do that.

I'd also like to point out that its amazing they still have to try to sell "Obama-care" as you label it to congress, being as over 70% of the general population already supports it. That alone speaks to how flawed representation can be, but ti is certainly a better system than most.

[edit on 6-10-2009 by JScytale]

reply to post by FlyersFan


Let me just try and understand this. You are annoyed that the doctors were asked to wear white coats to show they were doctors?

Nope i'm missing some kind of mental connection here. They were there to support the presidents view and obviously didn't mind wearing the coats. They are doctors so there has been no deception. If one of them wasn't a doctor, then you'd have something to get really angry about and i'd be rght their with you. I think you're just swallowing any and all anti-Obama propaganda.

Oh and i'm not even an american so i have no stakes in taking a side here, just going with the whole logical thing

Edit because either my fingers aren't working or my keyboard was having a bad day and decided to mess up words

[edit on 6-10-2009 by ImaginaryReality1984]

reply to post by FlyersFan


I forgot what bill are the picture perfect doctors favoring? because i lost count with so many darn bills in congress.

I know want thing for sure, is the bill that will protect their bill business with big pharma and the insurance companies.

Why do doctors wear white coats to begin with? To hold their pens? Think about it. Of course everyone is dressed for the Photo Op.

For the same reason a Doctor wears a white coat when you get your checkup.

This is the same at every local press conference about "getting tough on crime" with the rows of police officers in blue...all the plain clothes cops as well.

Not "smoke and mirrors" unless you are desperately looking for smoke and mirrors. The aides handed out coats in front of press and cameras and Obama even made a joke about it during the speech....

I am thrilled to have all of you here today and you look very spiffy in your coats. (Laughter.)

He apparently couldn't resist poking fun at the nature of a photo-op. ...but many folks here take anything that can be spun about Obama very seriously...as if he was staging false pretenses for the invasion of another country or something...

An every day photo op...ditto photo ops with police, military, fire departments and yes doctors..everybody wears the uniform...

Doctors in lab coats...woohoo.....a complete waste of a mouse click opening this thread...

Seems of late, that what Obama attempts, falls flat on it' face. May this continue.