Obama Cares: Talking Down to the Fired Up

Roger Simon said, “If Obama can’t sell government as a force for good that is who he is, and if he can’t sell that then he can’t sell his presidency.”

Before President Obama made his media blitz this past Sunday he went on the road. He played host in small towns and hamlets to audiences that regaled him. The crowds listened to the President recount how one voice began the rally cry "fired up and ready to go!" He shook his head and laughed at himself as he recalled his displeasure to find he was soaking wet in front of an audience of twenty people. But it was that atypical setting where he got the word and found his candidate voice. Obama hoped that the magic and the fire would return by, well, if he retold how he found it in the first place. Those who sat close to the fire of his speech were warmed by it; however the crowds outside held up clear signs of the times that could not be ignored. Somebody was fired up this time – the right.

Obama Cares!

I watched three interviews and felt talked down to in all of them. But I was not outside among the fired up nor among those who cat-called “communist.” Socialism was the mortar but the rocks of the five interviews — the Carter comments about overwhelming racism behind the ugly mocking of Obama and health care reform. In the Meet the Press interview when asked about Carter’s contention, Obama calmly disagreed. He stated that for the media race and controversy was “catnip.” He repeated this at each interview, which was as homogenous as the nightly news that racism was not solely behind the outrage.

While the President was right to defuse the reminder that he was black, he missed an important opportunity to talk to the people. Instead he talked down to them. His only specific was the “3 principles” he mentioned on This Week: 1) affordable health insurance (if you don’t have) 2) reforms will give you more security (If you do have insurance) 3) deficit-neutral spending while driving down costs in the long term. How can a complex overhaul of a thousand pages be boiled down to a couple of sentences? President Obama put away Professor Obama when he needed him most.

Article Author: Heloise

Author, writer, teacher, blogger, keeps a blog The Trough where she writes. She combines spirituality and politics as no other. She is a native of Chicago, who prefers walking as exercise. The author has a B.S., biology and M.A., anthropology, certified science and french teacher.
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