Obama: Nobody Has More Credibility on Health Care Than a Bunch of Doctors Wearing White Coats That We Just Hastily Lent to You
From Obama’s speech on health care:
Thank you so much. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Please, have a seat on this spectacular day here in the Rose Garden. I want to welcome all the doctors who gave joined us today at the White House. . . . I am thrilled to have all of you here today and you look very spiffy in your coats. (Laughter.)
Indeed, as DRJ noted yesterday: “It was an impressive event, in part because the doctors all wore their white coats.”
Some of which were handed out by the White House.
From the New York Post:
The physicians, all invited guests, were told to bring their white lab coats to make sure that TV cameras captured the image.
But some docs apparently forgot, failing to meet the White House dress code by showing up in business suits or dresses.
So the White House rustled up white coats for them and handed them to the suited physicians who had taken seats in the sun-splashed lawn area.
Back to Obama’s speech:
And I want to thank every single doctor who is here, and I especially want to thank you for agreeing to fan out across the country and make the case about why this reform effort is so desperately needed. You are the people who know this system best. You are the experts. Nobody has more credibility with the American people on this issue than you do.
Indeed. There’s nobody more credible than people claiming to be doctors at a meeting called by a Democrat to support health care reform. Oh . . . except:
Roxana Mayer at Jackson Lee’s town hall meeting
Should have given her a coat, Sheila. It was the lack of a coat that was a dead giveaway!
DRJ noted yesterday that at least one doctor was invited who doesn’t support ObamaCare — a fact that was easily learned with a simple Google search:
As the doctor says:
I think it should draw into question, frankly, necessarily, the degree and level of commitment of some of the physicians who will be standing behind the president in the Rose Garden.
I don’t see your coat in this video, “doctor.”
But let’s assume that the people who attended this event in their spiffy coats were all doctors — and let’s even assume (though it’s likely untrue) that they all support ObamaCare.
Just one question: these doctors endorsing the product of health care — who were lent their surface veneer of credibility in the form of those spiffy coats — are they required to declare that loan to the American people? You know, in the interest of full disclosure?
Hang on one second. [Arm extends into screen holding piece of paper. Patterico takes it.] I’ve just received this ruling from the FTC on the matter. It’s OK, they don’t have to declare the loan!
They’re not bloggers.
UPDATE: The L.A. Times has the obligatory shot of the doctors in white coats, and the obligatory quote from Obama about their credibility . . . but there is no mention of the spiffy doctor costumes in their article.
Why am I not surprised?
On Twitter, Mark Knoller said one of yesterday’s organizing groups was Doctors for America. Here is their organization page.
MayBee (34a54a) — 10/6/2009 @ 6:46 amThey appear to have offices in some states in the US, plus several in Mexico and Canada. And do I see one in Cuba?
The superficiality of this administration is beyond belief.
SPQR (26be8b) — 10/6/2009 @ 6:48 amPerhaps this was “performance art” by the NEA?
The head of the AMA is also a tool.
mcnorman (d8b737) — 10/6/2009 @ 6:53 amah yes….. the lab coat. one of the greatest unsung disease vectors in modern health care.
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 10/6/2009 @ 7:03 amI keep wondering what the mainstream media would have done if President Bush had pulled the same stunt. Okay, I really don’t wonder.
Alta Bob (e8af2b) — 10/6/2009 @ 7:04 amMedical students are very pro-single payer and young docs in training are largely so. It isn’t until they get out into practice that the bureaucracy starts to make them wonder. I suspect a lot of those doctors were academics, bureaucrats and young docs who are on salary. I checked on one from Nebraska and she has been in practice one year and was recruited by a small hospital which no doubt is paying her a salary. There is a large segment of docs who support single payer but they are not the ones in the trenches, for the most part. With time and experience, lots of them lose their enthusiasm but not all.
Mike K (2cf494) — 10/6/2009 @ 7:13 am[…] UPDATE BY PATTERICO: More on those spiffy white coats here. […]
Patterico’s Pontifications » Doctors for Obama (e4ab32) — 10/6/2009 @ 7:25 amReminds me of an item in an old Journal of Irreproducible Results ..
Neo (7830e6) — 10/6/2009 @ 7:31 amThe Lab Coat as a Status Symbol.
I’m sure if the doctors had gotten unruly that this would have been billed as a KKK gathering (minus the hoods & burning cross).
Neo (7830e6) — 10/6/2009 @ 7:46 amThe head of the AMA was on Lehrer last night, “debating” the cost vs. benefits of the plan. Talk about being in the bag – he only ranted against the evil insurance companies and of course Big Pharma. His physician counterpart wanted to know why he didn’t back insurance policies being transportable across state lines, why he didn’t back serious medical malpractice reform, why he didn’t back tax deductions for those paying for healthcare from their own pockets, etc. Not one time did he definitively state his position on any of these issues, choosing instead to ask why his opponent felt that greedy insurance companies and pharma deserved to make such “huge profits” for something that really should be seen as only a humanitarian cause. What.an.idiot.
Dmac (5ddc52) — 10/6/2009 @ 7:47 amGoose stepping propaganda as domestic policy.
Dan F (393f3f) — 10/6/2009 @ 8:02 amAnd Obama has a dream that one day in America, everyone, regardless of any pre-existing conditions or ability to pay, will have lab coats.
Official Internet Data Office (4514e0) — 10/6/2009 @ 8:12 amIs the acceptance of lab-coats a “material contribution” triggering the attention of the Pay Czar to control Doctor salaries?
AD - RtR/OS! (fb2a2a) — 10/6/2009 @ 8:27 amI personally prefer the scrubs look.
Dmac (5ddc52) — 10/6/2009 @ 8:28 amAre you sure they weren’t out of work Acorn workers?
wags101 (dae63c) — 10/6/2009 @ 8:51 amThe head of the AMA was on Lehrer last night, “debating” the cost vs. benefits of the plan. Talk about being in the bag – he only ranted against the evil insurance companies and of course Big Pharma.
I’m not sure why he’s railing against Big Pharma–the AMA took a payoff of $248 billion from Obumbles while Big Pharma was bought off for only $40 billion.
At least the AMA can take pride in being a high-class courtesan rather than a red-light district trollop.
Another Chris (2d8013) — 10/6/2009 @ 9:07 amShould have given her a coat, Sheila. It was the lack of a coat that was a dead giveaway!
Actually, I think she threw on the closest thing to a doctor’s smock that she could find in her closet.
I bet we could find some fake doctors at that White House event, as well. Probably half of them have doctorates in Marxist Philosophy.
j curtis (baef6f) — 10/6/2009 @ 9:25 amBrings back memories of wearing scrubs to a bar in med school to pick up college chicks. Thos were the days.
corwin (372a45) — 10/6/2009 @ 9:33 amCongressman said: Obama has something to hide! :
http://www.70news.com/2009/10/04/breaking-news-congressman-obama-has-something-to-hide/
[note: fished from spam filter. –Stashiu]
Alex (17a689) — 10/6/2009 @ 9:39 amThe faculty club at USC medical school does not allow lab coats or scrubs in the dining room. They are too big a contamination risk. I’ll bet Obama and his flunkies don’t know that. They probably would have had a mini-epidemic there if those had been real lab coats.
Mike K (2cf494) — 10/6/2009 @ 9:41 amSeveral of my friends have asked their doctors what they think of Obamacare and without exception they say that if it passes, they will retire. They don’t want to practice medicine in a government controlled environment.
jwarner (0a2a75) — 10/6/2009 @ 9:50 amThe lab coat routine is so sitcom. To mention two …
“Third Rock from the Sun”, where Sally, Harry and Tommy became doctors in the Emergency Room because they thought it would be cool. Harry kept saying STAT.
And in “Seinfeld”, Kramer became a doctor with the white lab coat, to help Elaine get help for her itching. How ridiculous does this look for the white house to do something so corny?
Never mind.
PatAZ (9d1bb3) — 10/6/2009 @ 9:58 amYour headlines are the bestest!
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (5114c7) — 10/6/2009 @ 10:05 amWow, more propaganda as usual from the white house. Make it look like everyone loves his national health care take over.
Obama, leave my health care alone.
http://www.whywevoted.com
James (9c1e8a) — 10/6/2009 @ 10:08 amObama is giving Republicans tons of incorrect information to attack him on so why the hell am I not seeing any healthcare ads on TV?? Time after time he continues to make these assertions about cost savings that will supposedly result from his plan while at the same time ignoring the acknowledged fact that there is a doctor shortage and that the addition of 30 million new patients is not doable without more doctors, equipment, and money….
Republicans need to get off their butts and spend more time and money getting out information on the cost saving possibilities of tort reform and the ability for insurers to compete across state lines or we are going to get yet another piece of crap legislation from the government which nobody will have read.
Jayson (ced98c) — 10/6/2009 @ 10:11 amOr, the GOP could be just standing aside so as not to impede Teh One on his rush to making a fool of himself.
AD - RtR/OS! (fb2a2a) — 10/6/2009 @ 10:22 am[object TextRange]
Jim Treacher (796deb) — 10/6/2009 @ 10:57 amCongress is going to pass a vaporware bill and substitute language that hasn’t been seen by the public at a later date.
Democrats are nothing but dishonest.
PCD (1d8b6d) — 10/6/2009 @ 11:11 amMy question is can a republican controlled congress reverse what this congress is doing? I suspect any mandates can and will be found to be unconstitutional and hopefully so will government run health care. No authority for it.
Zelsdorf Ragshaft III (57cae1) — 10/6/2009 @ 11:29 amMeh. Yeah, it is silly, but for those complaining about political dress-up games as if this is something new, I have two words: Mission Accomplished.
[note: fished from spam filter. –Stashiu]
fishbane (3c8d7c) — 10/6/2009 @ 12:15 pmZelsdorf, the real question is how many people will be given one of Obama’s little red pills and be told to go home and die as they are too expensive to keep alive?
PCD (1d8b6d) — 10/6/2009 @ 12:37 pmNo Congress can mortgage the actions of a future Congress. But then, most Congresses are damn cowards when it comes to doing the right thing, which is why nothing is more permanent than a temporary government program.
AD - RtR/OS! (fb2a2a) — 10/6/2009 @ 12:58 pmFishbane – I have two words as well:
Monica Lewinsky
daleyrocks (718861) — 10/6/2009 @ 12:59 pmour troops in Afghanistan are “just air-raiding villages and killing civilians” i
Hey, Jim. That is the new Obama policy ! He was just a bit premature. That accusation is now no longer operative.
Mike K (2cf494) — 10/6/2009 @ 1:13 pmDon’t miss this – Obama Justice Dep’t hires people to post anonymously on blogs
http://muffledoar.blogspot.com/2009/10/anonymous-doj-blogger-campaign-attacks.html
Amphipolis (b120ce) — 10/6/2009 @ 1:19 pmfishbane, so you are saying that Obama is no better than George Bush. Thanks for the admit. Now take your “Hey, look over there!” act somewhere else.
SPQR (26be8b) — 10/6/2009 @ 1:19 pmThat Mission Accomplished meme from the leftists shows their profound lack of understanding of the military.
JD (a047b4) — 10/6/2009 @ 1:24 pmWell, yes, JD. But that’s not why they repeat it even though its been debunked time after time. Beyond the profound lack of understanding of the military, its repetition comes from the day to day misrepresentation we’ve come to expect of fishbane’s ilk.
SPQR (26be8b) — 10/6/2009 @ 1:28 pmYeah, it is silly, but for those complaining about political dress-up games as if this is something new, I have two words: Mission Accomplished.
Will this be the banner that Obama puts up during the State of the Union address after the holiday spending season is a bust?
Another Chris (2d8013) — 10/6/2009 @ 1:40 pmActually, Another Chris, Joe Biden’s line this week about how successful the stimulus was was more embarrassing than that.
SPQR (26be8b) — 10/6/2009 @ 1:47 pm“. . . for those complaining . . I have two words: Mission Accomplished”
For Obama supporters, I have two words: Submission Accomplished.
Official Internet Data Office (4514e0) — 10/6/2009 @ 1:48 pmWell, yes, JD. But that’s not why they repeat it even though its been debunked time after time
Now we’ll wait until they recycle their other cherished but fraudulent story – the evil Boosh hacking away at a plastic turkey to serve the troops. I forget what the psychological term is for someone who’s so invested in a lie that they never can admit it otherwise.
Dmac (5ddc52) — 10/6/2009 @ 1:51 pmfishbane is a turdfondler from way back.
daleyrocks (718861) — 10/6/2009 @ 2:00 pmThey should have also worn those old-school head-band light thingies too and draped some stethoscopes around their necks. Maybe also a collective snapping of rubber gloves as some sort of..er..metaphor. Throw is some cool name tags like Dr. Van Nostrum from “The Clinic.”
SPC Jack Klompus (c1922b) — 10/6/2009 @ 2:01 pmLiberal?
BJTexs (a2cb5a) — 10/6/2009 @ 2:03 pm“Medical students are very pro-single payer and young docs in training are largely so….”
Comment by Mike K
I think that is because most of the young educated have bought into the “Republicans are selfish and rich meanies who want your children to go to bed hungry.” If they ever have a chance to get exposed to the idea that conservatives may care just as much about the less fortunate, or more so, than their liberal counterparts, they just have different ideas (that work) in how to go about it they might understand. But they don’t have time. I believed everything the MSM said about Reagan’s “Voodoo economics” back in the ’80’s because I never heard any other take on the subject.
I personally prefer the scrubs look.
Comment by Dmac — 10/6/2009 @ 8:28 am
This was an issue when I was in med school. One surgery attending wanted every surgical resident to be dressed in “professional looking” clothes unless they were immediately going into or out of the OR, a view very unpopular with surgical residents, one of whom pulled some article that claimed the public had most confidence in the “doctor in scrubs with a white coat” look, ala hospital based medical shows.
Brings back memories of wearing scrubs to a bar in med school to pick up college chicks. Those were the days.
Comment by corwin — 10/6/2009 @ 9:33 am
Corwin, are you for real? I vividly remember the first time I was with a med school friend who tried to avoid saying he was in med school. (“I’m in grad school, biology stuff…”) I thought it was hilarious. We had been told in orientation that there would be times we didn’t want to admit being doctors in training because we didn’t want to “be looked at differently” or something, but with knowledgeable people on campus “grad school in biology stuff” wasn’t going to suffice.
“the real question is how many people will be given one of Obama’s little red pills” by PCD
The real question is can we get him arrested for impersonating a doctor and practicing without a license. Impersonating a statesman, diplomat, or journalist don’t seem to have legal consequences, but medicine is something else.
MD in Philly (d4f9fa) — 10/6/2009 @ 2:18 pmI shudder to think what they’d hand out to the audience if he ever gives a talk on sex education.
Ken (c97a0c) — 10/6/2009 @ 3:09 pmIf the president now feels he has to dress up the the bill with accessories, it exposes the level of desperation he must be experiencing. The bill should be able to stand on it’s own strength. This is embarrassing. And I’m frankly getting tired of being embarrassed for, and by, this president.
Dana (863a65) — 10/6/2009 @ 5:00 pmp.s. Mike K, MD in Philly, corwin,
this one’s for you,
Dana (863a65) — 10/6/2009 @ 5:05 pmGeez, should have gone for maximum impact and put each of them in a codpiece and strung a huge banner proclaiming “Mission Accomplished”
Larry Reilly (45c8f2) — 10/6/2009 @ 5:56 pm(Remember, none of those kids died in vain. They died in Iraq.)
Superficiality, indeed, Mr. spqur.
Mawy is on a bender again …
JD (9d8cb8) — 10/6/2009 @ 5:58 pmIt takes the kind of utter dishonesty that Larry personifies to compare a banner hung by a CV crew to celebrate their successful work with the White House handing out lab coats for a photo op.
But that’s what we’ve come to expect from Larry.
SPQR (26be8b) — 10/6/2009 @ 6:10 pmI happened to be at home when this was on TV and my first thought was: “Why are they all wearing lab coats?” It didn’t make any sense to me. Why would a doctor wear his/her lab coat to a meeting with the President?
Of course, I’m hopelessly naive. It did finally dawn on me that it was a photo-op.
And it doesn’t really bother me that much, in this case. Politicians pull this kind of stuff so often, it’s not even insulting to the public’s intelligence anymore.
After all, you wouldn’t bring a chicken to the Thanksgiving Day turkey pardon.
It is funny, though, that White House staff had to round up extra coats for the doctors who forgot to bring theirs. That kind of micro-management says a lot about what’s most important to these folk.
Also, the media should have mentioned the gambit.
I wonder if the White House staff has a bunch of gimme hats stashed somewhere in case they host a delegation of Teamsters and some of them forget their Freightliner caps.
Ag80 (09b618) — 10/6/2009 @ 6:40 pmhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT61GNLBclk
Fox News is good on this today
bored again (d80b5a) — 10/6/2009 @ 6:52 pm#53 Ag80:
That had not occurred to me, but now that you mention it…that is extremely fine grained micromanagement, and totally at odds with the Administration’s collection of gaffes they have managed in diplomacy.
Why they should worry about what guests are wearing, rather than alienating on personal level the leaders of our allies is a little way out there for me.
EW1(SG) (edc268) — 10/6/2009 @ 6:52 pmEW1(SG):
I can only speak from personal experience, but when you when you concentrate on the superficial, the big picture often is lost.
Ag80 (09b618) — 10/6/2009 @ 7:09 pm#56 Ag80:
I’m not sure that came out exactly as intended ;), but it is something that happens with depressing regularity (the larger picture being lost in the superficial, that is).
EW1(SG) (edc268) — 10/6/2009 @ 7:21 pm“That had not occurred to me, but now that you mention it…that is extremely fine grained micromanagement, and totally at odds with the Administration’s collection of gaffes they have managed in diplomacy.”
Which raises the question are the “gaffes” purposeful demonstrations of contempt for those concerned?
MD in Philly (d4f9fa) — 10/6/2009 @ 7:28 pmWhen I was a kid our family used to joke a lot that when one of us was a bit crazy the “guys in the white coats are coming to take you away.” So I wonder, are the white coats here to take Obama away, or are they here to take us away? Obama for being nuttily socialist? Us for nuttily accepting the drivel? Hard to say. Both? Hmm. But as that general in Bastogne said long ago, to demands for surrendering to the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge — NUTS! That’s what I say to the gov’t for asking us to surrender our liberties.
Jim Hlavac (5d99c6) — 10/7/2009 @ 8:33 amHe’s actually using Soviet propaganda techniques to promote his Soviet-style health care!
He had to put a fresh coat on his Potemkin village of a photo op.
Steve (bb9090) — 10/7/2009 @ 12:20 pm[…] On a fiscal analysis alone, ObamaCare is “death to us all.” Obama and the Dems have lied about that and continue to lie about it. Fake doctors at town-hall meetings (where Obama said the nation is all “wee-weed-up” and Gibbs very clearly admitted that meant along the lines of “wetting the bed”) were lies abut ObamaCare in an effort to push it. The photo-op of white-coated doctors was a lie. […]
ObamaCare: It’s Good For You (I Mean It This Time) « Truth Before Dishonor (88a07c) — 11/4/2009 @ 11:10 pm[…] coats — an image designed to lend credibility to Obama’s health care plan — and didn’t tell readers that the White House had passed out the coats beforehand to any doctor not already wearing […]
Patterico's Pontifications » Patterico’s Los Angeles Dog Trainer Year in Review 2009 (e4ab32) — 1/1/2010 @ 12:06 pm