On hope, faith, health care and branding.

Campaigning is not leading.

Obama strikes me as being a bit annoyed with things like press conferences. Bush did too. Bush, however, solved the problem by not having them. A presidential speech from the oval office would help Obama's sale of health care more than a presser. Speeches from the oval office carry more weight and health care is certainly a big enough issue to rate one. Still, Obama's desire to be present on TV all the time has now limited this option. Every time he speaks he lessens his impact.

Powerful Presidents dictate terms behind the scenes and judiciously pressure in public. One can easily imagine LBJ twisting arms in the White House to pass Medicare. Though, Congress wrote the bill there is no doubt that it was LBJ's Great Society being born. Obama has not dictated the terms of this debate. Believe it or not, Pelosi has had more influence on the terms so far.

Obama presents like the nation's life coach, encouraging us - en mass - to make decisions that may cause discomfort but will be "good for us." Like gulping cod liver oil. But he is NOT a man on a mission. FDR's New Deal was a mission. Kennedy willed us into space. LBJ's Great Society was framed as a national cause. There is something pathetic about seeing him bend press questions into cheap talking points for a plan that is still being written.

Can anyone say in one sentence what Obama's health plan is? To insure everyone? No. To cut costs? Maybe, but how? To reign in rapacious insurance companies? Uh...depends on the day and who's talking.

I can explain several pieces of major progressive legislation in one sentence:

Social Security: To ensure that people have a safety net after their working years.

Medicare: To ensure health care for people after their working years.

Headstart: The answer is in the name. To give poorer children a leg up.

Tennessee Valley Authority: Electrify rural Tennessee.


Family Leave: Job security for families in transition or crisis.


All of FDR's alphabet soup programs were targeted and easy to grasp.

In each case conservatives insisted "liberty" was on death door. Nonsense.

What is circa 2009 health care reform about? Considering how well Obama branded himself in 2008 one would think he could sell us on health care reform...or at least brand it.

This fight is far from over. The personal stakes for Obama are extraordinarily high. He may yet win. Still, he's now caught in the same quicksand Mrs. Clinton was in 1993.

August is the cruelest month in American politics. Policies and politicians are destroyed in August. Ask Michael Dukakis. In 1988 he roamed around in his station wagon while Lee Atwater buried his chances of winning with TV ads about furloughed rapists. If health care reform is to be killed yet again it will be murdered in August.

Many months ago I stated that Obama's fault was in inspiring hope but no faith. Hope is a fine campaign tactic but potentially disastrous afterward. Real leaders do not inspire hope. They inspire faith. Americans had faith in FDR. Hope was the result - not the starting point. Hope is about the future and is therefore suited for first term campaigns. Faith is about the present - which is, of course, where we live. Obama does not inspire faith. As the health care debate unfolds this becomes more and more evident.