Buck Naked Bloggerama: Obama's "Harry and Louise Ad"

by Damozel | Yeah, it's pretty awful.  Many blogging Dems, including some who tilt toward Obama, are lifting their eyebrows at this new riff on an old non-favorite.  You can see it here or here.  As The Carpetbagger Report says, "Last night’s debate was quite pleasant. It was nice while it lasted."   

Big Tent Democrat at Talk Left sums up the controversy:

Harry and Louise. The infamous fictional couple used by the Health Insurance industry to fight against health reform remain synonymous with the power of special interest money in politics. As a result, Paul Krugman's charge (see also Ezra Klein) that Barack Obama's campaign is playing the Harry and Louise game is a serious one. (TL)

Before the blogger reaction, let's see what Hillary's "Fact Hub" has to say:

In 1993, the health insurance industry spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to scare people into opposing universal health care.... the infamous Harry and Louise ad.

Now, Sen. Obama is sending mail to voters around the country, using the exact same tactics...

Here are the facts:

Sen. Obama fails to mention Hillary's plan cuts costs just as aggressively as Sen. Obama, if not more so.

Hillary's plan contains more generous subsidies than the Obama plan. Noted health expert Ken Thorpe of Emory University concluded that under the Hillary plan, everyone will be able to afford coverage.

The Obama plan leaves 15 million people out, which drives up costs because everyone else ends up subsidizing their emergency care.  (Clinton campaign)

Paul Krugman at The New York Times:

Sorry, but this is just destructive — like the Obama plan, the Clinton plan offers subsidies to lower-income families. And BO himself has conceded that he might have to penalize people who don’t buy insurance until they need care. So this is just poisoning the well for health care reform. The politics of hope, indeed.

Taylor Marsh at The Huffington Post shares some of the denunciations of health care advocates:

"Demonize."

"Grossly untrue."

"Disgusting."

"So far over the line."

"Drive to the lowest common denominator."

"Retract it."

These are all words currently used to describe Barack Obama's negative health care mailer... Experts who are not supporting any candidate, but are health care experts, were included in the Clinton camp call, all of whom charged that Obama's mailer could cause permanent damage to universation health care efforts....

I don't remember when I was on a media call with uncommitted experts denouncing the tactics of a Democratic candidate so strongly. But that was the case today, in a conversation that had Barack Obama being called "disingenuous," and the health care mailer he's currently sending out across the country roundly denounced.
Nothing like channeling insurance industry talking points, complete with art. (HuffPost)

Ezra Klein at American Prospect:

When I say that Obama is demagoguing universal health care, this sort of campaign literature is what I'm talking about. 

Robert Farley at Lawyers, Guns, and Money is appalled at this "recycling of Republican talking points."

I wasn't at all bothered by Obama's invocations of Reagan; I'm sure that virtually every politician elected since 1986 has said something nice about the Gip at some point. But using what amounts to a facsimile of the 1994 anti-health care ad is pretty twitchy.  (LGM)

The Carpetbagger Report agrees on the awfulness of the ad.   

The Obama campaign is getting hit hard for a new direct-mail piece it’s sent out, and in this case, the criticism is entirely justified. The mailing, criticizing Hillary Clinton’s healthcare plan, is really awful. Indeed, after a couple of weeks of relative silence about the “conservative frame” discussion, this Obama mailing brings it all back to the fore.... Obama’s ad is just a mess. It’s the kind of thing I really wish his campaign wouldn’t do. (CBR)

The CBR goes on to point out that a Clinton supporter's over-reaction had the effect of undercutting what might have been an advantage to Hillary.  Sigh.  I agree that it was an overreaction, but I think this business of attributing to "the campaign" the statements of miscellaneous overzealous supporters is going way too far. 

Not that the Carpetbagger Report is wrong about the potential effects.  Evidently, a "Clinton supporter equated it with "the Nazis marching through Skokie."  So..."all of this might have even hurt Obama a bit, if the Clinton campaign hadn’t gone too far in its response."(CBR)

Goodness gracious. I agree with the concerns about the Obama mailing; it’s the kind of thing the campaign shouldn’t have done. No doubt about it — I denounce the direct-mail piece without reservation.

But comparing the mailing to Nazis marching through Skokie not only takes the outrage several steps too far, it changes the nature of the story. Now, instead of the headline reading, “Awful Obama mailing wrong about healthcare,” the new headline is, “Clinton campaign compares Obama mailing to Nazis.”

Later in the Clinton conference call, campaign spokesperson Howard Wolfson disavowed the Nazi reference. I’m glad, but it’s sometimes tough to get the toothpaste back in the tube(CBR).

Will Clinton supporters ever learn to dial back the hyperbole?  Every little bit hurts.

In the meantime, it's pretty clear that this was a sizable misstep by the Obama campaign.  At Open Left, Matt Stoller acknowledges:

I'm in a weird position, where every time a candidate speaks or I hear of a candidate I am persuaded to go in the other direction.  I was leaning slightly towards Obama, but this is just not ok. (OL)

Not so weird, my friend.  It's a daily experience in this strangest of all campaign seasons.

As one of those health care advocates says, what's needed now is for Obama to RETRACT IT.

MEMEORANDUM

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Obama's Health Care Plan versus Hillary's

Four Misleading Statements About Hillary Clinton?

The New York Post "Endorses" Obama, Disses Hillary 

Kennedy Family Divided over Hillary and Barack (update) 

Watching Hillary and Obama Watch the State of the Union Address 

To Obama Supporters Accusing the Clintons of Blasphemy:  A Counterblast 

The New York Times Endorses....(Can We Have the Envelope Please?)

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