Barack Obama addressed the American Medical Association this week on healthcare reform. He knows how to please an audience.

Speaking to doctors, the US president dwelt on the administrative burdens of the private insurance system and said doctors wanted to be healers, not bean-counters or paper-pushers. Speaking to businesses, his theme is competitiveness; to the uninsured, broader coverage; to citizens at large, control of costs; to the contentedly insured, the inviolability of their present arrangements.