You can't put an edge on mush. So, his sales pitch did not matter to me because he still is just mushy where we need pointed reform - getting the insurance industry bloodsuckers out of the way so Americans can get health care in a timely and affordable manner.

Yes, it matters. First of all, President Obama was able to take his message to audiences who may not have heard it. With all of the misinformation, being able to deliver your message directly to the people yourself is an asset.

But, I think there were three other, more important, aspects of Obama's move today: 1) He was able to reassert himself as being fully in control of the healthcare debate. Correctly or incorrectly, fairly or unfairly, he'd been accused of languishing during the debate. However, over the last few weeks, he's arguably succeeded in firmly rebutting that notion that he's not in control of the healthcare debate. He showed himself to be firmly in control. 2) He's imbuing the debate with a sense of momentum, and even inevitability. He frequently talks about "when" a bill is put before him, etc. Removing conditional terms (i.e., "if") also gives a sense that he's in control, but it best serves to dishearten and/or soften opposition. When something seems inevitable, people seem less inclined to protest vigorously. [The same phenomenon happened with the Sotomayor nomination.] 3) This is rarely noticed, but Obama is carefully laying the groundwork for the Democrats to pass healthcare reform with little to no Republican support. He frequently mentions their political motives and that they are not serious about offering solutions; they are only interested in obstruction for the sake of potential political gain. The more people understand that Republican opposition is largely self-serving, the more leeway Democrats have in moving forward. And, as an added benefit, he's helping to marginalize Republicans by painting them as opposed to reform, which is overwhelmingly popular (~75-80% in some polls I've seen); the meta-message is that "Republican values are not your values. Democrats are fighting for you."

So, yes, indeed this does matter, and it matters tremendously.

His media blitz was not for the political junkies on this or any other site like TPM. It was for the average American who is not tuned in, it was for the average American who is confused by what they are hearing on the news or their misinformed friends/family.

Ask someone completely disconnected from your world how he did.

the president squandered an opportunity to lay his core principles for a meaningful health care reform w/ a robust public option. Sadly, he did everything to avoid discussing the public option, which was disturbing on many levels.

it matters not so much as a matter of substance but of strategy. he dictated the conversation and dominated the discussion. otherwise, there would have been a vacuum and who knows what the right would have come up with. this way, they are responding to him and not him responding on monday to what they would have said today.

masha, impik, and VivaAme are the closest to being correct; IMO. This was not about specific policy. It was about drowning out everyone else, talking to the non-wonk public to allay fear and get them on board, and setting up the Republicans as the Party of "just say no".

It was strategic. And timely. With the Senate Finance Committee due to mark up legislation this week, a calmer environment to do that in should work to the Dems advantage.

I'm not sure how effective President Obama was at clarifying healthcare reform for viewers. He was probably more successful at lowering the temperature of the discussion. However, I think he was most successful at managing media coverage in that Obama being on the Sunday talk shows means hardly anybody else was.

I saw a bit of Meet the Press and I thought the Graham and Boehner follow-up looked pretty weak compared to the Obama interview. The panel on This Week after the interview was inconsequential. Bob Schaefer had Obama only. I didn't catch CNN or Univision.

That kind of overpowering media management was the real story here. I thought it was a very shrewd demonstration. The bonus was, the White House got to thumb its nose at Fox News. What goes around come around. Hey Fox: you want to run a reality show during a presidential address to a joint session of Congress? That's fine. No Obama interview for you!

testing

It appears that Obama has pretty much left the design of the healthcare reform package to Congress because of the implosion of the Clinton, White-House designed package of 16 years ago. Who knows if this is the correct approach, or not. The news recently has carried a flurry of articles detailing various abuses by health insurance companies. Perhaps, those stories will reinforce a demand for change.

I haven't seen any reporting that indicates there are significant numbers of fence-sitters on this issue. So, changing the minds of opponents is probably the only game in town. Has Obama ever been effective at that?

Thanks.

mp