The cons like to set the agenda and they can do so because they have large portions of the corporate establishment and private wealthy interests behind them. So money and foot soldiers are never a problem for cons to push their views on the American people.
The narrative behind their 'American tale of rugged individualism' was established decades ago; back in the later stages of the 19th century in fact. The cons strategy is to tell simple stories that grab the attention of 'common people' by setting up a scenario of two easy, competing tales of good and bad; white and black, with no contrasting shades of gray allowed.
The cons have had difficulty getting two of their favorite narratives to stick in the public consciousness: their race-baiting jabs, and their socialistic big government laments have fallen on deaf ears because since his January inauguration Barack Obama has commanded the attention of the American people from a mountain top of respect and dignity reserved for a historic presidency who stands as a true statesman. Cons who attempted their petty attacks against Obama were justifiably vilified throughout the media and by the public at large for using blatantly obvious delaying tactics intended to make the president appear to be a failure.
So after months of disarray and missteps by the Cons; they believe they have finally gained the upper hand on Obama by arguing that the combination of the August recess and his failure to pass a health-care plan portends of a massive loss by Obama and his fellow Democrats.
The cons can hardly contain their glee! They believe that all that Obama can now achieve is a watered down version of his original proposal. And to make things worse for Obama, the cons believe is that the impending failure is splitting the Democrats into two competing camps.
The progressive left, and the unions stand on one side of the divide while the Blue Dog Democrats, consisting of centrists and independents stand to the other side of what the cons hope is an insurmountable chasm.
So the cons are trying to extend their hand and add to the Democrats moment of seemingly disunity by resorting to their scare tactic approach based on the 'fact' that a new health-care system will shock taxpayers back into the GOP camp once they realize that not only Obama supporters in the upper tax brackets will suffer but that those in the middle class will be overwhelmed with revulsion once they realize at how high their top marginal rates could go.
The cons are furiously playing up their gloom and doom scenarios to taxpayers in states on the fiscal brink and are asking these people whether they can afford to pay higher marginal rates for people who are obviously too inept to secure their own private medical insurance coverage and instead are clamoring for a boondoggle federal health-care program that will force higher taxes on hard working, responsible Americans.
The cons are taking credit for insuring that President Obama's health-care bill has hit the wall and will never recover.
The cons are taking every opportunity to feed into the myth that Americans are thoroughly confused over the need for publicly funded healthcare even though the Democrats have well established facts on their side when they explain that the the lack of health insurance effects about “47 million uninsured Americans.” The cons are pushing their weak narrative that relies on disinformation and scare tactics that once tax payers realize that their taxes would increase under government health care they will revolt against government run health care.
White House adviser David Axelrod pushed back against the con verbiage when he said, “Our job is to help folks understand how this will help them.”
The cons hope that the harder the White House and Democrats push public health care, the worse it could get for them. The cons are betting their house stakes on their hope that Americans may have arrived at the limit of how much government they want or will pay for. If Barack Obama can’t sell more of it, no one can.
Meanwhile, President Obama is adapting his message on national health care to speak directly to those who already have health insurance.
On the president's agenda for the upcoming week; he will highlight his proposal to ban insurance companies from denying individuals coverage because of pre-existing conditions. During a Friday trip to Bozeman, Mont., Obama will stress how his plan would block companies from dropping an individual's coverage if he or she becomes ill. And at weeks end, in Grand Junction, Colo., Obama will emphasize that the Democrats' plan would end high out-of-pocket costs in some policies. All of these topics bypass Con rhetoric and concentrate on real, everyday issues faced by millions of Americans.
In another example of a shifting in Obama's strategy the White House has pivoted to campaign mode, making two significant modifications in their approach; they have dispersed select members of the Cabinet to key states to make the administrations case, and; a tech-savvy response to con misinformation has been launched through the White House Twitter and Facebook accounts, and has launched a new page on the White House's Web site entitled Health Insurance Reform Reality Check in which the administration enumerates examples of "the facts about the stability and security," Americans will "get from health insurance reform."
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