President Barack Obama appeared on five separate Sunday morning news shows today — essentially all of them except FOX News Sunday. Obama was dutifully on message, and stuck to many of the same talking points — sometimes word for word — in just about all of his appearances, whether discussing race, Afghanistan, investigations of the CIA or health care reform.
It was health care reform, of course, that clearly seemed to be Obama’s top priority this morning. Again and again, he tried to paint proposed reform as modest and moderate, describing it as “well within the mainstream of what Americans have been talking about for years,” “very modest” and that it’s not “a radical plan.”
The President also tried to position health care reform as urgent — with lines like “everyone acknowledges this is a problem” and “standing still is not an option” — and doable.
“I don’t think I’ve promised too much at all,” the President told Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation.
“We’ve agreed to about 80 percent” of what will go into the proposal, he told David Gregory on Meet the Press — a figure he repeated several times in other interviews. “The key now is to narrow those differences.”
There were a few hiccups, notably the President’s jousting with George Stephanopoulos on This Week about whether his plan would necessitate a middle-class tax hike. But overall on health care, the President seemed to be able to stick to his somewhat vague talking points: health care reform is necessary, moderate and achievable.
Since Rep. Joe “You Lie” Wilson’s (R-SC) outburst during Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress earlier this month, questions of if and how race factors into opposition to the President and health care reform have become louder and more prominent. Obama tried to downplay the issue Sunday, stressing in multiple interviews that while some people certainly oppose him because of race — just as some voted for him because of race — he sees the majority of opposition to reform as an ideological issue about the size, role and efficiency of government.
“What’s driving passions right now is that health care has become a proxy for a broader set of issues about how much government should be involved in our economy,” he said on Face the Nation.
Afghanistan was also an issue all morning. The President avoided saying if or when he’d ask for more U.S. troops, but did say he’s willing to do whatever’s necessary to achieve his “core goal, which is to dismantle, defeat [and] destroy Al Qaeda and its allies that killed Americans and are still plotting to kill Americans.”
Obama offered mild criticism of last month’s allegedly fraudulent Afghan presidential elections, telling John King on State of the Union, for instance, that the reports of fraud “look pretty serious.”
There was talk of investigations — CIA and ACORN — and even a World Series prediction. (The President won’t bet against his Chicago White Sox till they’re mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, but otherwise thinks the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees look strong.)
Obama seems to have gotten what he wanted this morning — his message blanketing the airwaves without any major distractions, surprises or deviations. He didn’t make much news, even though he was all over the news shows. He was consistent, and seemingly everywhere. The question now seems to be, does it matter?
