Obama, Give Us the Diagnosis Straight

There’s a no-nonsense woman on Capitol Hill who trains newly elected members of Congress on how to become legislators. Her name is Judy Schneider, and one of the first lessons she teaches is that to move legislation, members need to be intimately familiar with the bill’s politics, policy and procedure — especially procedure.

She also tells newcomers that if lawmakers aren’t skillful in all three of these areas, the policy is always the first to go. (I know this because I took her class as a legislative fellow a year ago.)

Looking at how President Obama and other Democrats have handled the current health care debate, it appears a lot of them might have missed Schneider’s class, or at least are in need of a refresher course.

This week, Obama will address a joint session of Congress on Sept. 9, in which he will try to get his health care efforts back on track.

It’s about time, too.

The past month has been filled with rancor, half-truths and outright lies — all from opponents. Part of the reason Obama and Democrats have been unable to frame the debate on their terms is because the majority party failed to understand the politics. They also have been unable to introduce a single plan or resonant message of its own. The void has unfortunately been filled by a vocal minority, well-financed by the health care industry.

The number of plans being talked about in Congress has only added to the confusion.

The result: Two out of three Americans say they are confused about the health care options being discussed in Congress, according to a CBS News poll. Only 36 percent of those polled said that government would do a better job than private insurers in providing medical coverage, down from 50 percent in June, the Christian Science monitor reported.

So, what should Obama say this week to Congress — and by extension the American people?

First: The president needs to shoot straight with the American public and tell them the public option is dead. His administration has been signaling this development for weeks, but nobody has come out and stated it directly; instead the administration has waffled. Disclosing the truth — that the option is off the table — will stop liberals from walking around with false hope, and at the same time give conservatives less to complain about (not that they really will stop, but the less the rest of us have to hear about “socialist medicine” and “death panels,” the better).

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