Three Takes on Health Care Reform

Earlier, I presented links to objective summaries of the health care plans that are out there. I link to them again below. But in addition, here's a White House-produced distillation of what President Obama proposes, taken from his recent speech before a Joint Session of the Congress.



The Wall Street Journal's overview
The New York Times' overview

"Can Obama's Big Speech Really Turn Public Opinion Around?"

That's the topic of historian George C. Edwards III's blog post over at History News Network.

Looking at presidents noted for their persuasive powers and legislative achievements, Edwards concludes that "the power to persuade" may be a bit overstated. I think that he's right.

Presidents (and other political actors) can persuade only as much as the moment allows. They can exploit and they can nudge, but they can't create consensus out of whole cloth. Woodrow Wilson and Jimmy Carter, for example, both learned this.

Abraham Lincoln admitted to having been controlled by events. But, in spite of the seeming fatalism of that admission, Lincoln is remembered, rightly, as a great and decisive president. The point is that he understood his moment.

Even without achieving their most cherished of personal goals--as was the case with Ronald Reagan, presidents can achieve great things if they have the vision not to see ahead, but to see their worlds as they are during their times in office.

The bottom line for me is this: President Obama's health care speech tomorrow night may clarify some things; but it will have little to do with what I expect will be the ultimate outcome, congressional passage of a new health care plan. Passage will happen because, the polling suggests, Americans are ready for some of the individual components of the plan. It's a ripe historical moment and Obama seems to understand that.

Another Presentation on Basics of Health Care Reform

A few days ago, I published links to primers on health care reform from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Here is a fun visual overview of current health care reform proposals. (WARNING: The biases of the presenters are apparent. But if you know that going in, I think that you can sift the policy preferences out and keep the information in.) Thanks to Meredith Gould for posting this link on her interesting blog.

Two Helpful Primers on the Health Care Debate

If you're like me, busy working ten hours a day or so, the claims and counterclaims in the current "discussion" over health care reform may lead you a bit confused, with little opportunity to check the veracity of the claims.

Here are two overviews of the health care reform issue and the arguments advanced by its advocates and opponents.

One from The New York Times and the other from The Wall Street Journal.

What interests me is that the Times piece, coming from a paper generally considered more liberal in its bias, seems to mete out equal shots to both Democrats and Republicans for their bullet points in their current August Congressional recess slugfest.

Both papers make many of the same points about key provisions of the one Senate bill and the two House bills currently under consideration and which, eventually, on passage, would have to go through a reconciliation process.

The Journal's overview.
The Times' overview.

There's so much misinformation and, seemingly, disinformation out there. But these two balanced pieces helped to clarify things for me.

I hope that they do the same for you.

[This is being crossposted at The Moderate Voice.]