Monday, September 14, 2009

An Observation or Two on Last Week's Speech

The current President gave his speech last week regarding health care and there were two sentences worth examining. They are:

"But I will not back down on the basic principle that if Americans can't find affordable coverage, we will provide you with a choice. And I will make sure that no government bureaucrat or insurance company bureaucrat gets between you and the care that you need."

I am reminded of times in the 1970s when analysts I knew would spend days and weeks analyzing just a few words spoken from the Soviet Presidium to determine what was really going on as well as assessing the psychological profile of the speaker. One always knew who wrote the speech but the speaker often embedded it with nuances that are true reflections of themselves. Thus I will use these two sentences to attempt such a task.

The first sentence is a typical sentence of the type:

If A, then B.

A is a sufficient condition to effect result B. However it is not a necessary condition. For example he could have said:

If and only if A, then B

That would have meant that A was the trigger. It was sufficient but it was also necessary. Sufficient means one of many possible triggers, and unless detailed they are often hidden. One can always back track on sufficiency.

Thus the statement is valueless for anyone attempting to ascertain the viability of a public option.

Now to sentence 2.

"...I will make sure that no government bureaucrat or insurance company bureaucrat gets between you and the care that you need..."

Well let us look at our form of Government. The Congress creates the laws and the Executive only carries them out. If Congress were to pass a Bill, even over the objections of the President, Lincoln notwithstanding, the President must carry it out. The President has no authority over the law, the President carries out the law. Yet if the President were not a President but a King, then the King could carry out the laws because the King makes the laws. One may ask if there was some hidden message here.

This was a critical speech and as such most likely reflects the intent if not many of the words of the speaker. Careful analysis of each sentence tells a great deal about the intents of the speaker and their self view.