OpinionOPINION
SEPTEMBER 23, 2009, 7:03 P.M. ET
 
The President Risks Getting Stale
Continuous TV appearances can't rescue a bad argument.
By KARL ROVE
It sounded to White House advisers like a good idea. Put President Barack Obama on five Sunday morning talk shows. This would focus attention on health care, re-establish momentum, and show off Mr. Obama's passion, intelligence, and persuasive abilities. It didn't work.
Mr. Obama made a classic mistake of politicians on a downward-bending arc. He jumps out in front of the cameras without having something fresh to offer.
As a result, he was on the defensive and failed to win over the slice of America that opposes his plans. His refusal to sit down with Fox News's Chris Wallace made him look petulant if not fearful, and his answers weakened his credibility.
Take, for example, his dustup on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" over whether requiring Americans to buy health insurance or pay a fine was a tax. Legislation in the House and Senate defines it as a tax, and Mr. Stephanopoulos said it fit Merriam-Webster's definition of a tax. But the president insisted it was not a tax. That's because by favoring the mandate Mr. Obama is breaking his pledge not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 a year. He already signed a cigarette tax increase in February, but this tax could be as much as $3,800 a year for a family and is therefore a more material breach of his promise.
On "Face the Nation" Mr. Obama said he would pay for two-thirds of his health-care proposal by redirecting Medicare funds that are "just being spent badly." "This is not me making wild assertions," Mr. Obama said, "waste and abuse" can provide "the lion's share of money to pay for" health-care reform.
If that is true, Mr. Obama could flip the health-care debate to his advantage by offering a stand-alone bill that would cut the $622 billion from Medicare and Medicaid that he sees as badly spent. Such a bill would show that Mr. Obama can be trusted when he says overhauling health care will be painless. But the White House won't do any such thing because those cuts aren't easy to make. If they were all "waste and fraud" they would have been cut already. And such a bill would force Democrats to either stick with the president or side with constituents who would be hurt by the cuts.
Mr. Obama opened a different can of worms on "Face the Nation" when he told Bob Schieffer health insurers and drug companies "are going to have to be ponying up" more in taxes because "they're making huge profits." Everyone except for the president seems to know that such a tax increase would be, in Mr. Schieffer's words, passed "right on to the consumer." That would drive up health insurance costs for everyone. How does that help the middle class afford health care?
Mr. Obama's dig at profits reveals a certain disdain for markets. Health insurers have a 3.3% profit margin, less than the 4.6% average for all businesses in the country. Drug companies do enjoy, on average, a 17% profit margin. But that's still less than software companies, which earn on average a 22% profit margin. Brewers make 18%. Are these industries the next targets for a revenue hungry Obama administration?
By the way, some of those drug-company profits are now paying for an ad blitz favoring Mr. Obama's health-care plans. There would be a little justice if drug companies succeed at increasing their own taxes.
To turn things in his favor, Mr. Obama needs to start thinking about making substantive concessions that will really improve health care. He could adopt Republican proposals to allow people to buy insurance across state lines, permit small businesses to pool risk to get the same discounts large employers receive, and crack down on junk lawsuits through medical liability reform. By doing so, he'd actually be lowering costs and expanding access instead of just pretending to—and at an infinitesimal fraction of his proposal's cost.
Americans have taken the measure of Mr. Obama's health-care plan and, as his falling poll numbers attest, increasingly don't like it. His health-care initiative is not only losing public support on its own merits; it is diminishing Mr. Obama's credibility. Most amazing of all, the president's constant chattering runs the risk of making him boring and stale. His magic dissipates as he becomes less interesting.
Mr. Obama doesn't need more TV time. He needs a new health-care plan that comes from actual bipartisan negotiation and compromise—one that most Americans see as something that will actually improve their health care. He needs his facts to align with reality.
More talk doesn't automatically lead to greater public support, but it can erode public confidence in your leadership. Mr. Obama is capable of flooding the airwaves with his words. But what he needs most is a message that wins the attention and support of most Americans.
Mr. Rove is the former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush.