Loading ...Critics say House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s attempts to rename the “public option” will do little to change the debate on health care reform, but history shows instances of successful rebranding.
If it quacks like a duck . . .
In an appearance at a Florida senior center on Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi referred to government-run health insurance as “the consumer option.” Then Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who appeared alongside Pelosi, used the term “competitive option.”
Apparently, the “public option” is sooooo last week.
What’s in a name? A lot, it seems, so the lawmakers are rebranding it in an effort to get it past any lingering doubts among the public, consumers and competitors.
Pelosi says “public option” has been misrepresented and creates the impression that taxpayers will foot the bill for health care. Wasserman Schultz says she expects the speaker to give the new wording a test drive when she returns to Washington.
But critics say rebranding the “public option” won’t work.
“A lemon is a lemon. You can call it an orange or an apple,” Republican strategist and pollster Frank Luntz told Fox News.
“Now she’s realized that the so-called public option … is losing support on a daily basis, and so she’s trying to change the language behind it. The problem is the American people really don’t want Washington running their health care,” he said.
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