President Obama spent most of the first 14 months of his adminstration pushing his signature national health care legislation into law. It is not only the single biggest accomplishment of his presidency, but a historic one. As we were reminded time and again, national health care was something that had eluded presidents dating back to Teddy Roosevelt a century ago. And despite its unpopularity at the time of passage, despite Obama’s promises that he would defend the law vigorously, here’s what he had to say tonight when the nation was watching:
That’s why our health care law relies on a reformed private market, not a Government program.
That’s it. Nothing about the benefits that are already being doled out as a result of the law or the amazing reforms yet to be implemented — arguments I disagree with, mind you, but ones that the administration has been pushing in lower profile forums. Health care policy writer Dan Diamond noted on Twitter that it was the fewest words spent on health care in a State of the Union speech for two decades, and he produced this chart showing the decline in health care mentions in Obama’s four State of the Union speeches (the 2009 speech technically just being a speech to a joint session of Congress.)
Interestingly, in his Republican response, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels didn’t take the opportunity to go after Obamacare. This raises the question of whether both parties see health care as not a major issue during the 2012 election. Of course, this could all change depending on how the U.S. Supreme Court rules late this spring/early in the summer.
