In the "The Audacity of Hope", the "race speech" and the "Muslim world speech", Obama uses a simple but powerful rhetorical device. He presents a conflict and tells both sides in a fair and genuine way, explaining to each listener why the opposing side is the opposing side.
The President's speeches on health care reform have failed catastrophically to use the device which made his books and his speeches on other issues so successful.
I have listened to nearly every Obama speech and listened to The Audacity of Hope several times as a book-on-tape.
In today's Weekly Address, he starts out in strong Obama form, correctly explaining to those who favor a single payer system why people who already have attractive company health insurance want to keep it, but after this point is made, he drops the ball. In every version of his health care speech he fails to explain the position of the opposition to a strong public option. He knows the answer but he won't say it and this critical bit of dishonesty by omission poisons the remainder of the discourse and breaks his bond with his audience. He fails to advocate for the public option because he fails to explain the opposition to the public option.
Ironically, he gives the missing answer in The Audacity of Hope in the chapter where he discusses his run for the Senate. He explains that in order to be elected senator, you have to collect several million dollars in corporate donations.
Failing to deal with this is why today's Weekly Address fails and why our government continues to fail on health care. The conflict is not between black and white, Sunni and Shia, or Muslim and Jew. The conflict is between American people who need fair health care and Senators who need millions of dollars from corporate CEOs who need to make profits for their shareholders.
Until Barack Obama identifies these Senators, and these CEOs -- by name, and by contribution amount -- and compassionately explains that their conflict of interest is the root cause of the health care stalemate, he will continue to fail tragically on health care. Even more tragically he will begin to lose his ability to communicate with the American people from a place of honesty and trust.
The Senate's crippling conflict of interest is the 800 lb. gorilla in the room. Those who speak without acknowledging its presence do not come across as credible.