Take off the Gloves!
Posted by JimThe thinly veiled public relations exercise going on in Washington today over health care reform reminds of a story about Benjamin Franklin. As you may recall, Mr. Franklin, always a master of self-promotion, invented a machine powered by heat that made enough noise to convince passersby that he was working on projects well past midnight. In his autobiography, he boasted that this device greatly improved his reputation amongst bankers and other community shakers.
I think the President needs to eschew these Franklin-meetings and seize the bully pulpit. He should look to Mr. Truman for inspiration; that President was faced with a similar nihilistic Republican Congress. He labeled them the “Do Nothing” Congress and rode that slogan to victory in 1948.
I realize people are sick of name-calling, but it is time to clearly define the teams and their goals. Health care reform is complicated and probably will not pay dividends for years. But we have to start somewhere. Consider this fact; when India’s Tata first rolls their cheap sub-compact down the assembly line, the costs to build that car starts at zero. Ford’s Focus, on the other, starts down the line with about $7,000 of expense to pay for past retirees, a large portion of which is for health benefits. Something has to be done to lavel this playing field.
