Since Congress broke for August recess, healthcare reform proponents and opponents have gone into overdrive trying to convince the public they are right. Progressives are armed with a long list of reasons for broad reform, but conservatives are well-organized, well-funded, and happy to be underhanded. They are managing to equate Obama with Hitler and spread rumors that the government is trying to put private insurance out of business, take money away from Medicare, and establish “death panels,” to save money by killing off old people.

Democrats earnestly launched into numerous town halls to get in touch with the public, but Congressional members were embarrassed by paid lobbyists aggressively shouting them down and filling the evening news with images of ‘boiling public outrage’.

At the same time, Rush Limbaugh and the Republicans have been spouting outrageous fabrications that play into deep-seated Cold War fears of the ‘Red Menace’. Authentically terrorized citizens follow the lobbyists, and come out to fight for their lives and ‘their America’.

Democrats, who felt somewhat secure a month ago, now find themselves uncomfortably on the defensive, forced to refute outlandish smears. Progressives are largely replying to attacks with, “That’s not true, that’s silly,” but not sufficiently explaining exactly how or why. At his August 11 town hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Obama said:

“Now, let me just start by setting the record straight on a few things I’ve been hearing out here about reform. Under the reform we’re proposing, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan. You will not be waiting in any lines. This is not about putting the government in charge of your health insurance. I don’t believe anyone should be in charge of your health insurance decisions but you and your doctor. I don’t think government bureaucrats should be meddling, but I also don’t think insurance company bureaucrats should be meddling. That’s the health care system I believe in.”

It wasn’t until the question-and-answer period when he really attempted to debunk the myths. Funds for the government-provided care will come from premium payments, rather than taxes, so private companies will be able to compete.

Government is offering to pay for counseling related to things like hospice and living wills, not creating “death panels” to rubberstamp the execution of the elderly and mentally disabled. He would be better served giving specific rebuttals sooner, and repeating them simply and clearly multiple times, less likely to be buried or missed.

However, Obama has not acknowledged the alleged source of the notion that he might ration care or deny it to seniors—one of the Administration advisors wrote needed academic work about how to assign priority in contexts like organ donation lists, emergency rooms, and disaster shelters. Not addressing the roots of the rumors plays into the conservative strategy of portraying the Administration as trying to pull one over on the witless public.

Similarly, Democrats frequently repeat how certain they are that they will pass some reform. This energizes supporters, but it energizes opponents as much, and appears to skeptics as if Obama is trying to strong-arm the nation.

Another problem Democrats have is citing important facts and figures without giving much context for them, or making ideological sense of them. In New Hampshire, Obama said, “I don’t have to explain to you that nearly 46 million Americans don’t have health insurance coverage today,” and if we do nothing “we will continue to see 14,000 Americans lose their health insurance every day.” Most Americans have no concept of what these numbers mean. He stated, “[premiums] have gone up three times faster than your wages, and they will keep on going up.”

Americans are used to big numbers and doomsday talk about the economy. They can write facts like this off as temporary bumps on the wondrous capitalist free market road to American riches. Obama wonders how people can say, “Don’t let the government take my Medicare away,” but many Americans believe that this is the best country in the history of the planet, idealize the founding fathers, and think whatever we ‘have been doing’ must be the wisest path.

Democrats are mortified of and baffled by the power of American exceptionalism and the Red Scare. Obama admits at the end of the town hall, “If…no matter what…you don’t think that we should be paying at all for additional people to be covered, then you’re probably going to be against health care reform and I can’t persuade you.”

Unfortunately, it’s those people who are showing up on the news nightly and making a scene, and who are vulnerable to baseless rumors. Democrats need to develop an unified strategy to counter the ‘socialism’ charge and ‘every man-for himself’ mentality head-on, not be dominated by the fear of it.