Rosemary Roberts: Obama needs to turn up the volume
The bad news about President Obama is that he got off his game this summer. He sat on the sidelines and let the screamers and fist shakers dominate the debate about health care and turn it into a firestorm.
The good news about Obama is that he admits he blew it.
In a recent interview with ABC News' "Good Morning America," he said his lack of clarity about which health care plan he favors probably backfired. He laid out principles but failed to spell out specifics.
"I, out of an effort to give Congress the ability to do their thing and not step on their toes, probably left too much ambiguity out there. All of which allowed the opponents of reform to come in and to fill up the airwaves with a lot of nonsense."
Obama is finally mounting the bully pulpit to drum up support for health care reform. By nature he seems cool and detached, but he worked up a sweat the other day in the Midwest when he told thousands, "We can do it."
Previously, he'd tried to do the same before a joint session of Congress -- a speech that's been eclipsed by South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst, "You lie!"
Blame the eclipse on TV's 24-hour news cycle that has dragged out the "you lie" story and its various chapters.
Meanwhile, Obama still has some explaining to do. He has failed to show Americans that our nation is "in crisis" because of our health care system. To sell something as monumental in scope as health care overhaul, a president must show it is desperately needed.
The stimulus package was passed, by contrast, because the government warned Americans we were teetering on the brink of another Great Depression. Most people think economic recovery, not health care reform, should be our highest priority. Obama must persuade them that the two have an interlocking relationship.
Who are Obama's critics who've grabbed center stage? Some are members of orchestrated campaigns who detest all things Obama. Others are mainstream Republicans who didn't vote for Obama and never will. Still others are using health care to air their fury about abortion rights, illegal immigrants, deficit spending, you name it.
Former President Jimmy Carter insists that racism is also a factor. "There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African American should not be president," Carter said this week.
The White House bristled (even though the Obama team probably knows that Carter is partly right). Obama has earnestly tried, however, to prevent race from being an issue during his presidency. He knows it is politically divisive and could polarize Congress and the public.
"The president does not believe that the criticism (of health care reform) comes based on the color of his skin," said his press spokesman, Robert Gibbs. "We understand that people have disagreements with some of the decisions that we've made and some of the extraordinary actions that had to be undertaken by his administration. &ellipses; The president does not believe that it's based on the color of his skin."
Meanwhile, some of Obama's supporters worry that he lacks "fire in the belly" when confronting daunting issues. "The president wears outrage like another man's suit. It doesn't quite fit," wrote Charles M. Blow, a commentator in The New York Times. "He's a hand-patter, not a knuckle-rapper. A mollifier was what the country needed in the waning days of the Bush administration, but is it what we need right now?"
Obama has been in office less than nine months and inherited an onerous platter of problems from President Bush: The Great Recession, two deadly wars, etc. But Obama is highly intelligent and a gifted orator capable of inspiring people.
He has what it takes to become a good, if not great, president. But he must turn up the decibel level and be more clear and passionate about his reform plan. Otherwise, the screamers will continue to drown him out.
Correction: In my column (Sept. 4) about the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, I misnamed the nephew involved in a rape trial. The nephew's correct name is William Kennedy Smith.
Rosemary Roberts writes a column on alternate Fridays. Email: rmroberts@triad.rr.com
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