The New Health Dialogue

August recess is shaping up to be crunch time for health care reform.

The White House is ready to roll out its strategy for the break -- fighting misinformation with the truth. The Obama team wants to return to the kind of strategy that helped Obama win the Presidency, an internet-heavy grassroots initiative. The White House hopes to "reenergize" critical supporters, reports The Washington Post.

Part of the White House strategy involves releasing a series of videos explaining health reform and debunking rumors, one of which we highlighted earlier this week. Obama also released a video to share stories from his letters from constituents -- he says the personal stories he receives about families and their struggles with health care motivate him to move forward with health care reform.

"A lot of the stories are heartbreaking," said Obama in the video, Inside the White House: Letters to the President. "People who work hard, a lot of times they'll say, ‘I've never written to a President before, I'm not looking for a handout -- all I want is just a fair shake.' And it ends up being a powerful motivator for me when we try to move this health agenda forward."

Obama urged Democratic senators toward a consensus on health reform legislation at a lunch earlier this week. Senate Democrats also set aside time to study up on health policy this week, holding "policy immersion" sessions to be prepared for questions over August recess, says Politico's Pulse.

Lately, some conservative activists have loudly criticized Democrats who support health reform, disrupting town halls and public forum events in several states. Some disruptions were organized by Conservatives for Patients' Rights -- the same team behind the infamous "Swift Boat Veterans" ads from the 2004 presidential race, reports the Post. The White House has called this drama manufactured -- ‘astroturf' rather than actual grassroots support. FiveThirtyEight argues that what conservative Republicans lack in numbers, they make up for in fervor. Though they may be "screaming a little louder" right now, Democrats have a pushback planned for August recess.

Both sides of the debate plan to step up their game over the August recess. Health interest groups and both political parties have already spent a staggering $52 million health reform ad buys, and are planning even more across the nation as Congressmen head back to their home districts, reports The Washington Post.

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) quoted the President to the NYT, saying that the outcry at public forums was a "distraction...We should not be fearful of it. The truth is on our side. If you look at the status quo, it will be very harmful to keep it."

There is a lot of misinformation out there. A lot of it is scary, and none of it is constructive. We're glad to see Obama doing his best to fight off these harmful rumors -- the best thing for successful health reform is an honest debate.