There’s an interesting national debate right now between the Obama administration and congressional Republicans over the White House’s budget. It’s a variation of an old debate and is interesting to me not for the details of the opposing positions but for the way those details are being framed. The outcome of this debate could have a significant impact on whether the cultural winds blow in a favorable or unfavorable direction for bold initiatives like Communities of Health.

The administration – as exemplified by the President’s speech on Saturday – is framing its position as a response to the overwhelming Democratic victory in November. They say they were not elected to do small things, to nibble around the edges of the status quo. The President is saying he is moving the country in a bold new direction. (It might matter less the details of that new direction, because the issues toward which these details are directed are complex beyond the ken of average Americans. The hope here is that normal Americans will be positively moved by the “bold new direction” framing.)

The Republicans are framing the debate negatively – their position is that the Democrats are practicing the same old tax and spend policies they say threaten the fabric of American Society. In fact, Rush Limbaugh in a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference Saturday went so far as to say Democratic-led welfare policies have caused the destruction of the black family in America.

As the near future unfolds it will be interesting to watch how the American public is drawn between these two positions. Are we, or enough of us to carry the day, going to follow the President’s lead into a bold new direction for our country or are we going to reject it as a fundamental intrusion into and control of our individual lives, and thereby a violation of our fundamental principles and values?

Because Communities of Health relies on a similarly bold reframing of health care – from a focus on medical interventions on individuals to community interventions on populations – the degree to which the President’s “bold new direction” framing is embraced might predict the fate of the Communities of Health reframing of health.