Video: The White House's Failed Response to the Symbolic Health-Care Repeal

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYvsbYyofJQ

Yesterday the House of Representatives voted to repeal Obama's health-care bill. The morning before the vote, the White House released a video outlining the reasons to keep the health-care bill in place. The video contains much of the same rhetoric in the same complicated language that we heard while the bill was being pushed through Congress and in the months following its passing.

The video was staged on the White House White Board, turning the discussion into a classroom environment where a talking head, the Assistant to the President, Stephanie Cutter informs the populace of the realities of the bill. But she speaks in a style better suited for a college classroom creating the potential to once again alienate a population that does not wish to be lectured at, but wishes to see results.

While there are many myths to be debunked surrounding this bill, as stated in a Washington Post article published Tuesday, the statistics used in the White House Video indicate a dismal trajectory for the economy and jobs if the bill is repealed. Republicans offer the exact opposite facts: that if the bill remains in place our economic trajectory will be dismal.

A New York Times report calls the repeal of this bill purely symbolic and, ye,s the repeal of the act may be a triumph for Republican symbolism. But the take away message for Obama is this: the Republicans message is clear: It portrays Obama as a socialist and positions Republicans as saviors of free market capitalism. That is a message people can take away and understand.

In contrast, what can you take away from Stephanie Cutter's logical and rational presentation? Shouldn't the bill and this video grab our hearts and emotions? Charts and academic language won't convince the average American that the health-care bill is for them. Why don't the democrats send scare message, a happy message, a hopeful message, any message. Repeat it over and over and tell people how this is going to affect them. Fox news has proved this works. But for the health-care bill to regain support, the American people need a message about health from the Democrats that they can grab on to.