Obama barely mentions healthcare reform in acceptance speech

If we hadn’t all lived through the battle over the Affordable Care Act, we might get the idea from the Democratic National Convention that President Obama’s only two accomplishments since 2009 was saving the auto industry and “removing Bin Laden from the battlefield.”

As Politico noted in the story entitled “Obama all but ignores ‘Obamacare'”:

In a passing, oblique reference, he credited the American people with ensuring that “a little girl with a heart disorder in Phoenix will get the surgery she needs because an insurance company can’t limit her coverage.”

In the address he could have used to celebrate his historic achievement, reintroduce it to the voters, or push back on Republican attacks, Obama had just that one line about it — and a couple of passing references to the dangers of repealing it.

The New York Times did an analysis of how many times per 25,000 words a particular word or phrase was mentioned and it appears that Democrats used the word “health” 38 times while Republicans had 9 mentions of the same word per 25,000 words uttered.

Obama did address Medicare directly, promising never to turn it into a voucher program.

One striking example of excellent healthcare and rehabilitation was Gabby Giffords reciting the pledge of allegiance. Not quite two years after she was shot in the head, she was able to walk to the podium with little help and only stumbled over the word “indivisible.”