Looking Closely at Obama’s Health Care Reform

By Senior Editor Zach Hunter

In the four-minute video titled, "The Obama Plan for Health Care Reform", President Obama outlines his plan to change America's broken health care system. During Obama's address on health care to the joint session of Congress in September of 2009, Obama used his charisma to captivate his listeners. The tone of Obama's speech was patriotic and emphasized change and unity. Even the web site on which the video is posted, was displayed in red, white, and blue. President Obama effectively used his natural charisma and personable tone to gain audience attention and captivate his listeners. The speech emphasized patriotism, both visually by use of color and speech context, and verbally through his word choices. This use of emotional appeal, or pathos, did serve to increase his ethos or credibility. However, I felt that President Obama oversimplified the issue of health care by merely focusing on the benefits of the plan, paying no attention to the drawbacks and costs of putting these ideas into effect. This method might have been beneficial as the intended audience of the video would probably rather listen to the projected benefits. President Obama's use of language, visuals, and non verbal behaviors determined his credibility in regards to this health care reform.

Obama's Language and Ethos

Obama's plan for health care reform is not a new idea to many Americans. First proposed by Senator John McCain during the presidential primaries, a plan for America's health care system has been a topic for concern for citizens in our country. Obama alludes to Sen. John McCain's idea by proposal on health care: "it was a good idea when Sen. John McCain proposed it in the campaign, it's a good idea now, and we should all embrace it." By making this statement, Obama appealed to both Democrats and Republicans. He called for support of all Americans and asked each of us to accept the responsibility to bring about change for health care regardless of political party affiliation. Obama's timing on presenting the issue of health care was effective as the overall debt of the population is growing, unemployment is increasing, and the ability to afford health care is decreasing.

Obama personifies health care saying the existing system is full of waste and abuse. According to Obama's financial advisement group, insurance companies in conjunction with the existing system is said to be wasting billions of dollars. Through his tone, Obama associates negative feelings with our current system. Obama spoke strongly of the current system using words like "fraud" and "abuse" to connect these negative feelings to our current system. He stated that the new system will be funded by collecting the waste of the existing system. "The only thing this plan would eliminate is the hundreds of billions of dollars of waste and fraud that go to insurance companies." To further his point Obama declared that: "No American should go broke because they are sick", implying that with the current plan we are financially unstable. When presenting his ideas, President Obama fails to explain the details of his plans, instead relying on his position and charisma to strengthen his arguments.

Obama also uses short patriotic phrases that elicit emotion from his listeners, Republican and Democrat. "The time for bickering is over, the time for games has passed, now is the season for action, now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together and show the American people that we can still do what we were sent here to do. Now is the time for action." Obvious through the diction of the speech, Obama is found often understating his plans. At times, his language was unclear and not based on sound reasoning. He employed the "Either—Or" fallacy, offering that we either embrace his system for reformed health care or we fail with this current system. At times, Obama also uses faulty reasoning by generalizing that if there is one inconsistency with the current system the whole system is a failure.

President Obama's plans to reform are a series of huge projects that would cost the United States billions of dollars. These billions of dollars needed would then be raised by a tax that would be imposed upon those making over $250,000 a year. All these plans would cost the country billions of dollars to put in place. Ironically, Obama states that this plan wouldn't increase the nation's debt. There is countless proof to prove otherwise. The White House says an estimated 110 billion dollars could be saved if the old payment rates were updated and an additional 106 billion would be saved by cutting subsidies to hospitals that treat the uninsured. All these savings could be possible assuming all plans yield 100% of their projected values. But wasn't the current system expected to flourish too? Obama's language really reflects an emotional appeal to the audience, but it is based on anything other than projections? Obama expects his audience to be ignorant in this respect. He throws around numbers and flashy sayings to emotionally appeal to his audience. Obama is a very successful speaker because he can relate to so many. His speeches connect with many Americans situations; large amounts of debt, no health care insurance, bad living conditions, and lack of work.

Obama's Use of Visuals and Non-Verbal Behaviors

Obama's nonverbal behaviors attest to the success of his rhetoric. Obama is a very presentable: his suit is a dark black and his tie is patriotic red, and his hair is clean cut. His tone is commanding and he is confident in his speech. He maintains eye contact and never strays from the outlined points in his speech. Obama's ability to memorize and recite his speeches without notes is strength of his impressive speaking skills.

Obama's credibility is greatly influenced by his body language. When he speaks his body is erect and confident adding to the success of his presentation. When Obama confidently proposed his ideas the audience and listeners often received him with thunderous applause, as compared to the times he less passionately did so.

When the president wanted to emphasize an important point used hand gestures and increased his volume. When Obama wanted the audience to remember a point his voice would get louder and his hands would raise higher. Obama would also occasionally pause to give the audience time to consider his proposal. He also employed these short pauses to increase the dramatic effect of certain points of his speech.

The website on which the video is posted also adds to the success of the video speech. The website is a patriotic painting. Everything in the site is either red white or blue. The text on the site is easy to read and well organized. A quote at the top of the page gives hope and encourages all Americans to do their part. "I'm asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington…I'm asking you to believe in yours. President Obama's website includes many references that appeal to the values and mythos of Americans. These references add to his credibility as a speaker.

Overall, President Obama's use of language and non-verbal communication was very effective. President Obama is very well spoken and exhibits effective speaking skills and non- verbal behaviors that make him a very charismatic speaker. However, President Obama wasn't effective in that he often oversimplified important points in his healthcare plan and understated details in his projections for success. He was also unsuccessful in that some of his reasoning was faulty, lacked evidence, and was biased. At times the biased sections of his speech were important and necessary. These sections showed the presidents interest in our nations progression and expressed his passion for the proposed idea. President Obama is a successful speaker that through his language, visuals, and nonverbal behavior developed credibility and ultimately support for his health care proposal.