The amazing request for anyone to come up wih a solution for healthcare made him sound like Jimmy Carter in 1979 asking the public to advise on what to do to change the mood of the nation.
The latest abuse inquiries come in the midst of several inquiries into separate allegations of widespread abuse by former BBC presenter Jimmy Savile, relating to hundreds of victims over many decades.
Come to think of it, it was a similar private initiative back then, by former President Jimmy Carter, that helped force a deal at a moment when Bill Clinton was taking a harder line.