Last Tuesday, on the official White House blog, the Obama administration asked its supporters to report back to the administration when they receive “an email” or see something on the web about healthcare insurance reform that seems fishy” to an official email address: flag@whitehouse.gov. The post to the White House made some people in the media and even in Congress ask if the White House was playing big brother. It is not uncommon for the government to play big brother particularly 9/11 and the passage of the patriot act which violates many Americans civil liberties. Therefore when Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn got wind of this, he sent a letter to President Barack Obama last Wednesday questioning his administration’s request for supporters to report “fishy” behavior on health care to an official White House e-mail address.
“I am not aware of any precedent for a president asking American citizens to report their fellow citizens to the White House for pure political speech that is deemed ‘fishy’ or otherwise inimical to the White House’s political interests,” Cornyn wrote in a harshly worded letter to President Barack Obama in which he asks the president to immediately halt the effort. It’s not the first time the Obama operation has asked supporters to report back on misinformation spread about the president on the Web—but those efforts were largely conducted through his campaign operation and more recently through the party’s political arm at the Democratic National Committee.
Cornyn, a former member of the Texas state Supreme Court, further suggested that the data that is collected by the White House could “raise the specter of a data collection program.” “As Congress debates health care reform and other critical policy matters, citizen engagement must not be chilled by fear of government monitoring the exercise of free speech rights.” If the effort continues, the Texas Republican is asking the administration to detail to Congress and the public the protocols employed by the White House on what they are doing with the data. He further inquired if the administration intends to notify the citizens reported for “fishy” speech.
“Do your own past statements qualify as ‘disinformation’?” Cornyn concludes, “For example, is it ‘disinformation’ to note that in 2003 you said: ‘I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer universal health care plan’?” The White House blog post was done to respond to a viral video posted on The Drudge Report that used clips of Obama and other Democrats to suggest his health care plan will eliminate private insurance and lead to a single-payer system. Linda Douglass, the communications director for the administration’s Health Reform Office, appears in the video to dispute those claims. Douglass did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Cornyn’s letter.
“There is a lot of misinformation about health insurance reform circulating on the internet and elsewhere. Some of it is intentionally misleading,” Douglass responded in an e-mail. “We want to be sure people have the facts about health insurance reform that will lower costs, protect consumers from insurance regulations that deny them coverage and assure quality and affordable health care for all Americans. We are not compiling lists or sources of information. We may post fact checks from time to time to be sure Americans know the truth about health insurance reform.”
In fact the White House administration could be playing big brother while also applying the art of war in which before you layout any plans or details, you find out what you are fighting against. Therefore on Monday, the White House created the following website www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/ that gives the reality or as they say the truth to some of the misconceptions floating around on the internet. This is yet another political tactic and brilliant move by the White House to try out maneuver its political opponents. In fact President Obama and his administration are using some of the same political tactics that got the President elected to get healthcare reform passed in this nation. Well I have misspoken because it not about healthcare reform but it is about health insurance reform right now but that can be taken up in previous pieces I wrote on healthcare.
Therefore to stick to the topic, the White House is playing big brother but at the same time, it is a tactical art of war move in which you learn first what you are up against before unleashing a fury of tactics to defeat your opponent. Therefore White House supporters and the American people are simply giving the Obama administration the ammo it needs to not only kill its opponents at every corner but it is giving the Obama administration their opponents playbook and unless proponents of healthcare or health insurance reform come up with some plays, this game will be over before the month of August even ends. The Obama administration is tactical and strategic as well as to a degree they are still in campaign mold which is only adding to this highly delicate issue of which the White House not only trying to win but they are trying to annihilate their opponents and detractors.
So it should be no doubt that Senator Cornyn’s concerns are valid but the reality is that the GOP and any opponents of the White House have been out maneuvered yet again by the Obama administration because unless a Democratic congressional leader question these tactics than it won’t be anything done for the White House requesting Americans to report fishy emails or web posting. The Big Brother tactic was just the beginning to a bigger move by the Obama administration and it is clear that no one in the news media saw this coming and opponents of health reform didn’t see this coming with the release of a website that debunks all the myths or half truths regarding the healthcare plans that are currently in Congress as well as debunks any myths or half truths about President Obama’s position.
Brilliant “Art of War” maneuver by the White House and that is exactly why if you haven’t read the book the Art of War than I highly encourage everyone to read it because the lessons in the book help all American’s learn their opponents and how to dismantle their opponents while keeping a big grin in the process and never losing strand. Just look at President Obama and you will see that his administration is learning to apply the art of war to all it does because it is what made them successful in their pursuit of the White House to begin with.
“I am not aware of any precedent for a president asking American citizens to report their fellow citizens to the White House for pure political speech that is deemed ‘fishy’ or otherwise inimical to the White House’s political interests,” Cornyn wrote in a harshly worded letter to President Barack Obama in which he asks the president to immediately halt the effort. It’s not the first time the Obama operation has asked supporters to report back on misinformation spread about the president on the Web—but those efforts were largely conducted through his campaign operation and more recently through the party’s political arm at the Democratic National Committee.
Cornyn, a former member of the Texas state Supreme Court, further suggested that the data that is collected by the White House could “raise the specter of a data collection program.” “As Congress debates health care reform and other critical policy matters, citizen engagement must not be chilled by fear of government monitoring the exercise of free speech rights.” If the effort continues, the Texas Republican is asking the administration to detail to Congress and the public the protocols employed by the White House on what they are doing with the data. He further inquired if the administration intends to notify the citizens reported for “fishy” speech.
“Do your own past statements qualify as ‘disinformation’?” Cornyn concludes, “For example, is it ‘disinformation’ to note that in 2003 you said: ‘I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer universal health care plan’?” The White House blog post was done to respond to a viral video posted on The Drudge Report that used clips of Obama and other Democrats to suggest his health care plan will eliminate private insurance and lead to a single-payer system. Linda Douglass, the communications director for the administration’s Health Reform Office, appears in the video to dispute those claims. Douglass did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Cornyn’s letter.
“There is a lot of misinformation about health insurance reform circulating on the internet and elsewhere. Some of it is intentionally misleading,” Douglass responded in an e-mail. “We want to be sure people have the facts about health insurance reform that will lower costs, protect consumers from insurance regulations that deny them coverage and assure quality and affordable health care for all Americans. We are not compiling lists or sources of information. We may post fact checks from time to time to be sure Americans know the truth about health insurance reform.”
In fact the White House administration could be playing big brother while also applying the art of war in which before you layout any plans or details, you find out what you are fighting against. Therefore on Monday, the White House created the following website www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/ that gives the reality or as they say the truth to some of the misconceptions floating around on the internet. This is yet another political tactic and brilliant move by the White House to try out maneuver its political opponents. In fact President Obama and his administration are using some of the same political tactics that got the President elected to get healthcare reform passed in this nation. Well I have misspoken because it not about healthcare reform but it is about health insurance reform right now but that can be taken up in previous pieces I wrote on healthcare.
Therefore to stick to the topic, the White House is playing big brother but at the same time, it is a tactical art of war move in which you learn first what you are up against before unleashing a fury of tactics to defeat your opponent. Therefore White House supporters and the American people are simply giving the Obama administration the ammo it needs to not only kill its opponents at every corner but it is giving the Obama administration their opponents playbook and unless proponents of healthcare or health insurance reform come up with some plays, this game will be over before the month of August even ends. The Obama administration is tactical and strategic as well as to a degree they are still in campaign mold which is only adding to this highly delicate issue of which the White House not only trying to win but they are trying to annihilate their opponents and detractors.
So it should be no doubt that Senator Cornyn’s concerns are valid but the reality is that the GOP and any opponents of the White House have been out maneuvered yet again by the Obama administration because unless a Democratic congressional leader question these tactics than it won’t be anything done for the White House requesting Americans to report fishy emails or web posting. The Big Brother tactic was just the beginning to a bigger move by the Obama administration and it is clear that no one in the news media saw this coming and opponents of health reform didn’t see this coming with the release of a website that debunks all the myths or half truths regarding the healthcare plans that are currently in Congress as well as debunks any myths or half truths about President Obama’s position.
Brilliant “Art of War” maneuver by the White House and that is exactly why if you haven’t read the book the Art of War than I highly encourage everyone to read it because the lessons in the book help all American’s learn their opponents and how to dismantle their opponents while keeping a big grin in the process and never losing strand. Just look at President Obama and you will see that his administration is learning to apply the art of war to all it does because it is what made them successful in their pursuit of the White House to begin with.
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