Since all “Truth” is essentially positional perspective, I believe his “insight” is derived from the center of the bell shaped curve; where the tail may not even be visible.

Yes there is a “long tail” dimension qualitatively distinct from the common experience, but this “pragmatic man will practice the art of the possible where intent and action can be realistically energized.

In William James’ view: “My experience [aka reality, truth, etc..] is what I agree to attend to.”

Thank you for all you’ve done and continue to do to advance the consciousness and cause of participatory medicine!

Although I don’t view the patient-clinician relationships in the same hierarchical way that the President does, I do think it’s important to distinguish between Obama’s policy position and his sharing of his own personal experience (which he is quite explicit about). I’ve tried to clarify a little more my take from my take on this earlier this week on the IxCenter Blog (www.IxCenterBlog.org).