Theda Skocpol
I sat in on Harvard Professor Theda Skocpol’s luncheon speech to the Summer Policy Institute Wednesday.
Skocpol is professor of political science and sociology at Harvard University and the director of the Scholars Strategy Network, a nationwide network of civically engaged scholars.
Long story short: She’s smart, she’s from the northeast, and she’s liberal.
Her topic was the Affordable Care Act. She’s all for it, and expects that someday Oklahoma will fully embrace it -- although she added that we may be the 49th state to say so, just ahead of Texas.
Her speech was interesting, but an aside she made was particularly interesting to me.
She said both sides have embraced the name “Obamacare” for the federal health care law that has been the center of a nearly five-year national debate.
Opponents of “Obamacare” like the name “Obamacare” because they dislike Obama, she said.
Supporters of “Obamacare” like the name “Obamacare” because they like Obama, she said.
I wish that were true around here, but I can report that it isn’t.
Here’s a link to
Skocpol’s Wednesday Tulsa World op/ed piece, where she argues – a bit against her luncheon aside – that Oklahomans might like “Obamacare” faster if it weren’t called “Obamacare.” It was drawing a lot of traffic to our website yesterday.)
I like the name “Obamacare” because it is one word long and everyone immediately knows what you are talking about when you use it. It serves the interest of journalistic brevity and clarity.
By contrast, “the Affordable Care Act” is four words that aren’t nearly as universally recognized.
The law’s more correct name, “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” is two words longer an even less clear.
I can tell you, Professor Skocpol, that I’ve taken complaints from readers – Affordable Care Act supporters – who do not want to read the word in print.
It’s derisive, they say. Offensive.
I’ve tried pointing out that when he was running for re-election, President Obama said he liked the term.
"I actually like the name," he said. "Because I do care -- that's why we fought so hard to make it happen."
But the angry callers weren’t buying that, not even from President Obama.
Apparently, people hear things differently in the northeast, where the poll numbers on the issue are a mirror image of what they are in Oklahoma.
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