A Conservative Case For Health Care

Liberals are panicked and Conservatives are boogying on the grave of Health Care reform. Both sides are a bit premature. This is a clutch situation, but the game is still a bit early, and Democrats have not brought out their best players.



This is not as precarious as the situation as the Red Sox found themselves in during the 2004 ALCS against the despised Yankees. President Obama finds himself in a must-win situation nonetheless.



The challenge for President Obama will involve defusing very loud Conservatives who feel that their future well-being will rely upon the status quo. And now Obama is taking flack from Liberals who do not feel that the reforms being offered go far enough.



The Conservatives will not be an easy nut to crack. Obama is dealing with a group which has invested twenty years of trust in an opinion mechanism which is rabidly opposed to his party and the principles which got him elected. Conservatives are loud, frightened, and led by individuals who trust Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck.



There is only one way around this. Bill Clinton knows how. Obama has to lead with his right until the Conservatives walk into his left- hard.



The key to the speech will be adopting a vernacular identical to the right. The idea will be to make his proposals, including a public option, in terms of Faith, Patriotism, and Individual Opportunity. Clinton could have made this happen, and failed in 1993. Barack Obama has made his career on avoiding Bill Clinton’s larger mistakes.



What Obama will have to avoid is any suggestion of partisanship against free enterprise. No doubt exists that the President is a relatively moderate Democrat, but he is now faced with the challenge of reconquering the ten to fifteen percent of the middle who have wavered since his election. This can be achieved through the use of a Conservative lexicon.



Faith is the easiest term to renew. A quote from the Gospel of Matthew would serve nicely to open, preferably something from the Beatitudes or the Parable of the Good Samaritan, if not both.



The idea is not to preach to the saved, but put the religious opposition on notice that the teachings of Jesus Christ are not to be trifled with. There is very little in Christ’s lesson that speaks to raising the lot of the affluent. And it is very hard to envision where Christ would have been in favor of letting decent people die because they aren’t rich enough.



Patriotism is much tougher, but must be faced early in the speech. The core principle is that Americans have found a way to come together and realize public solutions to a common need. From the first public fire brigades to a common defense, this has been an overriding precept since 1776.



This is the first, best sound bite: “A healthy America is a strong America.”



Patriotism is where the existing Medicare and VA systems come into play. It is appropriate to ask why all citizens of the United States should not have the same quality of care offered to seniors and veterans. This is where Obama can offer some red meat to Liberals, in terms friendly to Conservatives.



“Health care is a privilege which no citizen of the United States should be denied based upon his ability to pay,” might be a good way to start.



“For too long, people have profiteered by abusing a system designed to help those in an hour of need. We are not a people who delight in kicking others when they are down. We never have been, nor will we ever be.”



As President Obama moves into the area of individual opportunity, he would be well served by making the case for entrepreneurship. No one knows how many new businesses have not opened because an entrepreneur has not been able to secure health coverage for his family.



We know from the example of other developed countries which are already growing economically. America has always done well when Americans have had the room to take reasonable risks and use a deep well of ideas. Removing a difficult obstacle to developing business is good for the economy.



And, oh yes, President Obama should remind Congress how much health care we get while paying half again as much as any other industrialized country.



That might get a lot of people to reconsider the value of public medicine.