Controlling your PR message: Lessons from the Healthcare Debate
Healthcare reform is a complex issue. It is about creating a pricing structure accessible to everyday people, without creating disincentives for doctors and pharmaceutical companies.
Everyone knows the system is broken, but the solutions are non-obvious. The average senator, on both sides of the aisle, most likely doesn’t understand the bill they are considering. However, more problematic, is that because of the complexity of Obama’s proposal, it has become impossible for the White House to effectively communicate what their reform package is.
Everyone knows that Obama is proposing reforms, but very few people could articulate what that proposal is. Likewise, the Republican proposal is equally complex, and unarticulated to the public.
However, because Obama catalysed the whole healthcare debate, his opposition spearheaded the response. Given the unarticulated nature of the Obama proposal, conservatives jumped and controlled the debate. Their message: Obama’s proposal is socialism.
While it may be true that Obama’s healthcare plan is socialist; given that Norway, the UK and most of the OCED have government healthcare plans. The American mindset, particularly after the cold war, is “socialism = bad.” This is obviously flawed, and conducted under a misconception of what socialism is. Switzerland, Australia and Sweden are very nice places to live, where free markets thrive and social inequity is low.
Essentially, Obama, a master of public relations (PR), has failed on the PR of healthcare. His critics have created a message that is intelligible to the voters, whilst it is impossible for Obama to adequately articulate the substance of his proposal.
Could Obama counterclaim that the “socialist” countries actually have superior healthcare systems? American “exceptionalism,” i.e. the domestic pride of middle America, wouldn’t stand for it.
Then, what is the solution? Obama needs to craft a PR campaign that condenses his proposal into a form that can be understood by the average voter. The average voter has a (mis)conception as to what socialism is, but is ill informed as to what a “public option” is.
What is the lesson to be learnt? Always control your message; condense complex ideas into forms that your target market understands. Yes, it is the dumbing down of politics, but it is the reality of our contemporary world.
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