There's no shortage of advice for President Obama about what he should do substantively and stylistically to regain the momentum that he squandered in his thus-far-futile quest to achieve health-care reform. While Congress was busy indulging Max Baucus and Ben Nelson and Joe Lieberman, the public's priorities shifted away from health care and toward creating jobs and curbing the deficit.
In the grip of a recession, government is the spender of last resort, and the administration shouldn't take its foot off the gas pedal now. Short-term deficits are needed; long-term deficits must be tackled. The Republican Party and the tea-party movement have cleverly conflated today's deficits with tomorrow's, scaring voters about impending doom if we don't immediately get our fiscal house in order.
My colleague Evan Thomas faults Obama for not being honest with the American people about what's needed. Robert Samuelson, NEWSWEEK's economics columnist, writes about the "massive candor gap," led by Obama but also implicating most leaders of both parties. If there's no pain, there's no gain in the eyes of those who take the courageous view—raise taxes, cut benefits—when they're not the ones who have to face the voters.
The history of high-minded candor in politics is generally not rewarded. Democratic standard-bearer Adlai Stevenson was told he had the votes of all the thinking people, to which he responded, "Yes, but I need a majority." Jimmy Carter called upon the American people to sacrifice in order to lessen dependence on foreign oil. He lost his bid for reelection to Ronald Reagan, who said there was enough oil under second base at Yankee Stadium, the kind of applause line that voters want to hear.
I admire and respect my colleagues, but here's where I differ. I find Obama the most honest president we've had since Carter. He understands the long-term threat the deficit poses, and that the first step in reducing the deficit is to get health-care costs under control. Republicans, after historically opposing Medicare, have become its protectors, criticizing the modest steps within the Democrats' health-care bill to restrain Medicare costs. I wish the members of the chattering class would shine a brighter light on the GOP's hypocrisy and highlight the hard-won aspects of reform that are positive. Instead, they chide the administration for not doing more about tort reform (which they should), and insist that it costs too much to extend insurance coverage to 30 million uninsured, even though the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says the legislation would reduce the deficit.
How about calculating the cost of doing nothing? A story in today's New York Timespoints out that the number of uninsured people could rise to 58 million by 2014, which translates into billions in unpaid care provided by hospitals, which cannot sustain a business model in which they are the insurers of last resort.
My colleague Jacob Weisberg is right when he says we've met the enemy and the enemy is us, that Americans want more services from government than they're willing to pay for. But casting aspersions on the voters is never a good idea. A better strategy for Obama would be to explain to the American people what he's doing and why. He talked to us like grown-ups about race when his campaign was threatened, and about the characteristics of a just war when he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize.
I find myself feeling nostalgic for Ross Perot with his charts and pointer, a style of presentation that the critics pooh-poohed and everyday Americans loved. Yes, everyday Americans, a phrase that my other colleague Steve Tuttle finds condescending when Obama uses it, yet Sarah Palin seemed to invoke to good effect in her keynote speech at last weekend's tea-party convention in Nashville.
After mocking Obama's reliance on a teleprompter, Palin was caught by a zoom-in camera using an aid familiar to everyday Americans—writing on the inside of her hand the answer to the first question she knew would be posed. It was about her priorities. Her crib sheet: Energy ... tax ... lift American spirits ... budget cuts (with budget crossed out). My advice to Obama—and here is where I agree with Tuttle, NEWSWEEK's self-described "cracker"—keep it simple. He could learn from Palin, a few phrases that fit on the palm of his hand. How about "It's the economy, stupid, and don't forget about health care."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
