Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Download Podcast | iTunes | Podcast Feed

Francis Cianfrocca joins Ben Domenech for the Wednesday, September 9th edition of Coffee & Markets, a series of brief morning podcasts on politics and the marketplace.

Today’s podcast focuses on the President’s health care remarks and the collapse of America’s consumer credit.

Items discussed include:

• WSJ: Obama to Endorse Public Plan in Speech
• AP: Obama Still Writing Speech
• Bloomberg: Record Plunge in US Consumer Credit

And the statement we reference from my health care column is:

The President has realized that his still-vague plans for shifting America’s health insurance system toward increased governmental control are running aground, is turning once again to his reliable tactics of the 2008 campaign: delivering what is billed as a big, important speech in front of people who adore him — in this case, his dominant majorities in the House and Senate.

To advance the debate, the President must move beyond where he is today — until then, his specifics remain non-specific, his policies platitudes. Instead, he apparently will pin his hopes on the belief that the American people will be distracted by a new, shiny bow atop a gift basket of rotten fruit. This sideshow speech may be smart politics — but on an issue of such importance to millions of Americans, it is no way to govern responsibly. Marketing exercises are never a substitute for policymaking.