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Immoral Imperative?

The Democrats (or their pollsters) seem to have decided that the way to sell health care reform is to describe it not as a money-saver but as a ?moral imperative.?

After the funeral for Ted Kennedy, former President Bill Clinton and former Vice-president Al Gore spoke at the Tennessee Democratic Party?s annual Jackson Day dinner. Inevitably, both men could not resist the lure of discussing health care reform....

Clinton and Gore are leaping back into the spotlight to salvage President Barack Obama?s plans and try to preserve Democratic leads in Congress despite plummeting poll numbers. What?s new is their concerted arguments using moral imperatives and, in Gore?s case, the Bible....

As reported by the Politico, ?Playing off the focus of the Kennedy funeral on the Gospel of Matthew?s parable of Jesus taking care of ?the least of us,? Gore thundered that the country has ?a moral duty to pass health care reform. This year.??

Setting the theme, a few days ago Vice President Biden ?spoke of a ?moral imperative? to improve the U.S. healthcare system and also the need to get soaring healthcare costs under control.? On August 21 the Los Angeles Times reported that ?Obama laid out a ?moral? imperative for revamping the nation's healthcare system.? In the New York Times Magazine on Sunday Tom Daschle said the Democrats ?need to do a better job of making this issue a moral imperative.? Moreover,

A new campaign organized by Christian, Jewish and Muslim organizations united behind health care reform as a moral imperative is taking up this cause.

I could go on, but you get the idea. But I wonder whether the media get it. The media did, either begrudgingly or scornfully, report objections to Pelosi, Reid, et. al. calling those who object to the president?s proposal (whatever it is) un-American Swastika-wearing mobsters, but I?ve yet to see any media awareness that saying a certain policy is a ?moral imperative? inescapably implies that opposition to it is immoral.

That should work ... if voters like being told they?re immoral, and it should go a long way toward countering the widespread notion that liberals are preachy,self-righteous, condescending prigs who consider themselves morally superior to those who presume to disagree with them.

Full post as published by Discriminations on August 31, 2009 (boomark / email).