Healthcare Reform or the Bum's Rush?

When President Barack Obama insisted that his healthcare legislation be enacted into law before the August Congressional recess, I became highly suspicious. But if the nature of town hall meetings now taking place all over the nation is any indication of how Americans feel, I was not alone in that sentiment.

The Congressional healthcare bills seemed like too much too soon. They appeared disconnected and few specifics were explained to the public – yet they were accompanied by grandiose rhetoric. One of them runs to 1000 pages that few legislators have read or fully understand.

President Obama and his key advisors, sensing a rising tide of populist opposition, decided to take their case directly to the people. At his first town hall meeting on this topic in the seacoast town of Portsmouth, NH, Obama was hoping to win converts to the cause. He came prepared to take on some very hard questions.

But he went to the wrong place – it didn’t work: At one point, President Obama felt compelled to reach out to the audience by personally soliciting tough questions. No dice.

People of the Granite State respect the man and were not about to tangle with him in a public forum. Obama’s handlers completely miscalculated the nature of that audience. These voters express their differences in the voting booth, not in the glare of a nationally televised event where they can be set up for personal embarrassment.

There is a crucial reason why Obama wanted so badly to have healthcare legislation enacted before the August Congressional recess: The Administration was very concerned that, should this self-imposed deadline not be achieved, Americans would begin asking questions during the remaining summer weeks and into the fall – not good for the President’s strategy.

Pushing a major untried concept through the Congress without a sufficient public airing of views and alternatives is a classic move. It is a political blitzkrieg designed to establish permanence before anyone can figure out what happened.

The most favorable time to mount opposition to an untested idea is before it becomes cast in stone as the law of the land.

That is why Obama is in such a rush.