Below The Beltway

The White House made much of it’s Rose Garden meeting with President Obama and a group of “representative” doctors:

On the cusp of a key legislative push, President Obama yesterday filled the Rose Garden with doctors supportive of his health care overhaul, saying “nobody has more credibility with the American people on this issue than you do.’’ The event gave the president another chance to frame the debate on his terms as his top domestic priority enters its most critical phase, with legislation moving toward floor debates in the Senate and the House. About 150 white-coated doctors representing all 50 states were arrayed in the sun-splashed lawn area just outside the West Wing. “When you cut through all the noise and all the distractions that are out there, I think what’s most telling is that some of the people who are most supportive of reform are the very medical professionals who know the health care system best,’’ said Obama.

Of course, it was all a Potemkin Village:

WASHINGTON — President Obama yesterday rolled out the red carpet — and handed out doctors’ white coats as well, just so nobody missed his hard-sell health-care message. In a heavy-handed attempt at reviving support for health-care reform, the White House orchestrated a massive photo op to buttress its claim that front-line physicians support Obama. A sea of 150 white-coated doctors, all enthusiastically supportive of the president and representing all 50 states, looked as if they were at a costume party as they posed in the Rose Garden before hearing Obama’s pitch for the Democratic overhaul bills moving through Congress. The physicians, all invited guests, were told to bring their white lab coats to make sure that TV cameras captured the image. But some docs apparently forgot, failing to meet the White House dress code by showing up in business suits or dresses. So the White House rustled up white coats for them and handed them to the suited physicians who had taken seats in the sun-splashed lawn area. All this to provide a visual counter to complaints from other doctors that pending legislation is bad news for the medical profession.

Of course it also turns out that many of the doctors in the audience yesterday were Obama supporters. Hope and change, or smoke and mirrors ?