Speechifying For The Win

Politico has done some legwork on President Obama's address to Congress and the nation on health care on Wednesday and has the following intel:

The contents of the speech were still being debated over the weekend. But here is what POLITICO gleaned from conversations with top aides:

1) Obama will lay out a specific “President’s Plan,” even if he doesn’t call it that. He will make clear what’s on the table, and what he thinks warrants further debate, such as how to pay for the overhaul.

2) He will not confront or scold the left. “This is a case for bold action, not a stick in the eye to our supporters,” said an official involved in speech preparation. “That’s not how President Obama thinks. The politics of triangulation don’t live in this White House.”

3) He will make an overture to Republicans. “He will lay out his vision for health reform – taking the best ideas from both parties, make the case for why as a nation we must act now, and dispel the myths and confusion that are affecting public opinion,” the aide said.

4) He will make it clear that it’s better to get something done than nothing done. White House aides are reminding fellow Democrats that the party lost Congress in 1994 by failing to do any health reforms at all after Congress balked at the original plan by President Bill Clinton. “The lesson of 1994 is not that tackling health reform is politically perilous. It’s that failing to act could be devastating,” said Dan Pfeiffer, the White House deputy communications director.

5) Obama will try to reassure the left about his commitment to a public option, or government insurance plan. Aides said they are rethinking what he will say about this. He wants to thread the needle of voicing support for a public option, without promising to kill health reform to get it. But liberal congressional leaders were unyielding in their support for it on a conference call he held from Camp David yesterday, and he's going to meet with them at the White House early next week.

Point one was necessary four months ago, but it's good to see it now. The lesson was that Clinton's plan was set in stone and Congress used it as an excuse to revolt. The lesson now is that leaving Congress to its own devices is just an excuse for them to waste time. Lesson learned: Republicans and some Democrats simply aren't going to let a plan pass.

Point two is also necessary, you dance with the girl you brought. Obama owes progressives not just for the Presidency, but for the primaries as well. I'd argue that he's triangulating by saying he's not triangulating, but the realism here is that Obama will have to make compromises. On this however he's learned that 4 months of good faith negotiations with Republicans has led to repeated kicks to the jibblies and some brutal personal attacks.

Point three? Showmanship. Republicans are irrelevant. They have made themselves irrelevant by saying no to every single compromise, every single overture, every single trial balloon, every single back channel query. They do not want health care reform the Dems can take credit for. He's doing this out of playing the Village game, but that game too needs to be played.

Point four is also vital. Democrats in Congress need to be made to understand that if nothing passes, it will be the Democrats who are blamed, not the Republicans. Honestly, what are voters going to do to the Republican Party should health care reform not pass, kick them out of office? The perfect should not be the enemy of the good, but Obama also needs to understand that compromising for the sake of compromise is pointless, the Republicans will fight any and every plan as unacceptable. The White House finally gets this.

Point five is the most vital, frankly. The liberal wing of the Democratic Party will not let Obama kill the public option outright. As I've said before, the number one problem with health care costs is profit motive. The insurance industry makes money when they collect premiums and deny payment, the medical industry makes money by charging for drugs and procedures that may or may not be needed, and the doctors make money by getting payments from the insurance and drug companies. That has to end for our system to be fixed. A public option is one part of that fix, but an absolutely necessary one. Democrats will force Obama's hand on this.

So now the President has a game plan for Wednesday, and we'll see if he delivers.