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Obama Hurt by Health-Care Confusion, Lack of Leadership

Posted Aug 19, 2009 11:15am EDT by Aaron Task in Healthcare Information, Newsmakers
Related: AET, CI, UNH, WLP, XLV, ^DJI, ^GSPC
Another day brings another new poll showing what's obvious to all but the most strident Democratic partisans: Obama's health-care reform effort is floundering.

According to the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll:

  • Obama's overall approval ratings have fallen to 51% vs. 61% in April.
  • Only 41% approve of Obama's handling of health-care reform and only 24% believe it will improve the quality of care.
  • 54% worry the government will go too far in reforming the system while 41% worry it won't do enough to lower costs and cover the uninsured.

Faced with these poll numbers and a general sense health-care reform is on the ropes, the Obama administration is set to roll out yet another shift to its health-care pitch next month, The Wall Street Journal reports.

And there's the rub: Instead of laying out a specific program from the onset (or perhaps waiting for the economic crisis to subside first) Obama directed Congress to hash out a bill. Inevitably, that led to partisan bickering, fear mongering and political stalemates contributing to a view among many Americans that the only thing the government can do well is run up the Federal deficit.

In sum, Obama has failed to lead on health care and has squandered a lot of political capital in the process, disappointing his supporters on the left (almost) as much as his opponents on the right.

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