Did Obama follow Krugman’s advice?

It is an interesting exercise to go over Krugman’s column after Obama’s speech and review each one of the suggestions to see how well they describe the tone and the emphatic points of the speech. First, regarding the “Make it personal” it seems that Obama also understands the importance of personal anecdotes. He addresses the issue first by making reference to the case of “one man from Illinois” and the case of “another woman from Texas”; second by evoking “the character of our country” and last but not least, by quoting “Teddy’s” words on health insurance and his experience of having two children stricken with cancer.

Concerning the “Talk about Medicare” he did pretty well, addressing the issue, mentioning the waste and inefficiencies associated to the program, giving some peace of mind to America’s seniors and finally mentioning that no long ago “some of the same folks who are spreading these tall tales have fought against Medicare in the past, and just this year supported a budget that would have essentially turned Medicare into a privatized voucher program”.

The third point was “Talk about the system’s troubles”: That was more than obvious, so he addressed the problem of the uninsured, the insecurity and instability of those insured, the high and rapidly growing costs that is placing “an unsustainable burden on taxpayers”. Of course Obama could have mentioned what Goldhill called “the problems at the foundation of our healthcare system”: “A wasteful insurance system; distorted incentives; a bias toward treatment; moral hazard; hidden costs and a lack of transparency; curbed competition; service to the wrong customer”.

Finally Krugman asked Obama to “Explain the plan in as few words as possible” and he came out with a very catchy slogan that he is using to advertise his plan “It will provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance. It will provide insurance to those who don’t. And it will lower the cost of health care for our families, our businesses, and our government.” For those asking why Paul Krugman is not in the administration this note might bring some comfort.

When writing this I remember a song that you might have heard. Here is the link