Obama: “It’s Been A Week, Folks!”

[cal04]

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/obama-mocks-media-its-been-a-week/
The Plum LineGreg Sargent's blog

Obama spent a great deal of time during the health care debate mocking the media for its obsession with which party would benefit most from passing reform.

Today, speaking in Maine with the public still deeply divided over the new law, Obama picked up this theme again, but with a twist: He mocked reporters and pundits for pointing out that public opinion has yet to turn around. The whole riff is worth quoting:

“You have to love some of the pundtis in Washington. Every single day there’s been another poll saying, `the nation is still divided on health reform.’ The polls haven’t changed yet.’

“Well, yeah, it just happened last week! It’s only been a week!

“Can you imagine if some of these reporters were working on a farm and you planted some seeds and they came out next day and they looked — Nothing’s happened! There’s no crop! We’re gonna starve! Oh, no! It’s a disaster!

“It’s been a week, folks. So before we find out if people like health care reform, we should wait to see what happens when we actually put it into place. Just a thought.”

The target audience for this message, obviously, isn’t the Maine crowd. It’s Obama’s fellow Dems in Washington, who are hitting the panic button almost hourly right now. And the message is a serious one: Keep your cool; we’re asking people to adjust to a massive transformation in a highly personal area of their lives; it will take some time and effort to change minds on this.

Whether Obama and Dems will succeed, particularly in time for the midterms, is an open question, to put it mildly. But for now, Obama is hoping to calm frayed Dem nerves with a bit of levity and perspective.


Obama: HCR 'Happened Because People Had The Courage To Stand Up'
http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/04/obama-hcr-happened-because-people-had-the-courage-to-stand-up.php

Obama hits critics who are rushing to call health care reform a failure: ‘It’s only been a week!’
video at link
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/04/01/obama-health-care/

[graywarrior]

1. LOVE IT!

[HipChick]

2. How long did it take to introduce people to ATM's and credit cards?

Change takes time