RNC crafts ‘playbook’ to counter Obama’s ‘fantastic’ healthcare PR

The GOP must counter President Obama’s “fantastic” PR game in order to define and win the debate over healthcare reform, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele wrote Tuesday.

In a memo to “Republican Leaders,” Steele laid out the GOP “playbook” for the debate over healthcare.

“Despite the president’s increasingly skeptical reviews, it should also be noted that the Obama administration is fantastic at the PR game,” Steele wrote in a memo to the leaders. “In some cases, they are even a little too good at it, selling things that are demonstrably untrue.”

“The president’s PR team uses rhetoric to mask reality, and the White House spin machine is in overdrive trying to convince Americans as well as our nation’s health care professionals that their plan is the cure for what ails us,” he added. “Republicans will not allow the Democrats’ rhetoric to define this debate.”

Steele laid out five myths he said Republicans would have to counter in order to take control of the healthcare debate.

Those myths, Steele asserted, were that Republicans oppose healthcare reform, that the Obama administration’s plan would be budget neutral, that a public (or “government-run” option would be fair for competition, that the plan would reduce costs, and that the plan would not diminish consumer choice.

To counter those, Steele said the Republican playbook should maintain that healthcare reform shouldn’t result in a decline in quality, higher taxes, cuts in Medicare, more debt, or a public option — among other things.

“Make no mistake — their timeline is based on what works for them politically, not on what will result in the best health care policy for Americans,” Steele said. “The reckless speed with which they are attempting to jam through this experiment is a grave threat to America’s health care, and America’s health.”