Universal Healthcare... Universal Problems

A popular notion sweeping across the political landscape of the United States is the need for some type of healthcare reform. Numerous politicians, predominately democratic, have called for a “universal” healthcare system. The term universal healthcare has mildly different meanings to different people. Generally speaking though, universal health care refers to “a government effort intended to extend health care coverage to all citizens, and sometimes permanent residents, of a governmental region.” These ideas were the same ideas shared by Senator Barak Obama in a speech given to the Families USA Conference in Washington D.C. on January 27, 2007.
Over the past few years an increasing number of politicians and citizens alike have shown interest in the government of the United States adopting a universal healthcare system. Movies such as SiCKO and other written propaganda have only bolstered this side of the argument. With the growing popularity of the argument, some presidential candidate’s have run with universal healthcare as a major component of their platform. Barak Obama supports this theory and is running under the basis that if he were to be elected he would institute such a policy.
A manuscript of the aforementioned speech is available at http://obama.senate.gov/
speech/070125-the_time_has_co/ . Obama’s pathos oriented speech has moved many people, but there are a some fundamental flaws not addressed in his speech. Being a charismatic leader is an important trait for a candidate, but voters must use their head instead of their heart. Interestingly, some in this country seem to vote based solely on pathos inspired speeches, forgetting the ethos aspect or lack there of. This is the flaw that I find in this speech. Barak Obama has nearly no experience in the healthcare industry, and has been a politician or working toward being a politician his entire adult life. Although there is a glaring lack of expertise behind his thoughts on healthcare, Obama clearly has consultants to aid him on his opinion. These consultants, however, are employed for one reason only, to sway the vote in favor of their employer.
A key component of Obama’s speech is his appeal to a less wealthy audience, who have virtually nothing to lose by a fundamental change in the healthcare system of this country. In particular, this speech was given to a group of members of Families USA. This organization is an influential healthcare lobbyist in Washington D.C. Obviously, Senator Obama would receive a warm reception from an audience comprised of such universal healthcare advocates. In addition to this audience, the manuscript was posted on Obama’s campaign website. Obama’s supporters, mainly democratic, are the primary audience of the website.
The greatest problem with the speech is that Obama acknowledges know adverse effects of his proposed legislation. The democratic audience, which the speech is geared toward, traditionally has been in favor of legislation aiding those less fortunate in society. This is where Obama’s use of pathos comes into play. While Obama regurgitates some numbers (that may or may not be true) given to him by his consultants, the overriding feel of the speech is that there is a great injustice in this country.
Nothing will rile voters into voting like an injustice against them, and the person promising to change this will reap the rewards. In actuality the president has little say in whether a universal healthcare system will be enacted. Actually, Obama has a greater influence in the Senate than he ever will as president. In the Senate, Obama can actually vote on such legislation.
Generally speaking, Obama’s speech was merely a ploy to receive votes, nothing more, nothing less. Candidates in both parties do this on a daily basis. They tell their contingent what they would like to hear, and in return they receive votes. Whether or not this legislation is ever passed into law is of no concern to me. I merely would like to point out the degree of pathos used in the campaigns of politicians across the country.