Health reform losing?

On the one hand, I sympathize with President Obama. In the Information Age, disinformation often seems to rule the day. The “birthers” and the “Obama is a Muslim” crowd gain way more traction than they deserve.
But the White House itself is spreading disinformation about the motives of the opponents of health-care reform. A recent White House blog post cites rumors about reform and asks people to send in examples they find.
And Democratic National Committee spokesman Brad Woodhouse issued a statement saying people confronting Democrats at recent town hall meetings are “angry mobs of rabid right-wing extremists.” These “mobs of extremists,” he said, “are not interested in having a thoughtful discussion about the issues — but like some Republican leaders have said, they are interested in ‘breaking’ the president and destroying his presidency.”
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the critics are well organized attackers backed by interest groups. (Read about it here.)
My thoughts? Yes, it’s true that some of the attacks are unsubstantiated rumors, but what else is new? Every political battle, including campaigns, has these. It would be a huge mistake, however, for the White House to underestimate the growing distrust for government health-care reform. It’s also not wise to paint all opponents with the broad “wacko nutcase” brush.
Remember, the White House itself is a huge special interest that wants to spread propaganda about its own proposals. That’s not new or confined to the current administration. Presidents always want to control the message. When the White House blog says it’s untrue the president wants to destroy private insurance, it dismisses legitimate arguments that a public option would set that very thing in motion.
I agree with the Wall Street Journal’s John Fund. This sounds like the president is beginning to lose the battle.