Placebobama
By Pat Racimora on September 1, 2009 at 6:01 PM in President Barack Obama
The use of placebos in medicine is absolutely fascinating. The effects can be stunning, despite the fact that they are, by their very definition, composed of inert matter. Some may not understand that placebo effects do not result in a cure in and of themselves. Rather, when they work, people feel better. They are told what will happen, they are led to believe it, and things seem to improve.
Quoting from a masterful article by Harriet Hall, here is how they work:
The placebo effect is mainly subjective.… Placebos don’t keep women from getting pregnant. They don’t cure cancer, heal broken bones, or do anything you can measure objectively. They work for more elusive complaints like headache, depression, itching, shortness of breath, tension, indigestion, and other symptoms that require us to accept the patient’s self-report of what he is experiencing.
There is a hierarchy of effectiveness as well:
Placebo surgery works better than placebo injections.
Placebo injections work better than placebo pills.
Sham acupuncture treatment works better than a placebo pill.
Capsules work better than tablets.
Big pills work better than small pills.
The more doses a day, the better.
The more expensive, the better.
The color of the pill makes a difference.
Telling the patient, “This will relieve your pain” works better than saying “This might help.”
So what does all this have to do with President Obama? Well, I think he is a human placebo. We were suffering from deep depression and excruciating pain after 8 years of the George W. Bush administration. Then along comes Barack Obama, telling us to just hope and there will be great change.
He promised he would alter everything about Washington: Deep surgical removal of lobbyist influence and other nasty goings on.
He would inject our country with renewed purpose and goals.
He would do things in a BIG way.
“Yes we can!” Not “Maybe….”
Just HOPE!
This might have been a good thing. Most all of us needed a boost, after all. Even being in a better mood might have helped us get up, out, and moving in a more positive direction. But I don’t see it working out that way. Economic downturns, huge rewards for corporations that screwed up while the rest of us who are paying for this mess struggle to make it through each month, continuing wars, some important broken promises, an ineffective and bumbling Congress and other seemingly myopic government offices, and a president with way too little relevant experience appear to be breaking the spell.
So the question now becomes, are Barack Obama and his administration simply inert?
by Ronald Scott
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