Ed Morrissey:
The obvious question, then, is … why continue? Both Kirsten Powers and Ron Fournier have spent the last day offering cris des coeurs over the incompetence of the White House, as the National Journal columnist did yesterday and Powers did last night on Fox News Special Report (via RCP and Truth Revolt):
[youtube]http://youtu.be/8QVD538A0YY[/youtube]KIRSTEN POWERS: Well, I think his explanation is probably the true explanation, that they need to do this, but at the same time, it’s now gotten to the point where it seems like there’s an exemption made for pretty much everybody except for individuals. A lot of people who have really been screwed over by the law, you know, who are left without insurance or with extremely expensive insurance. So, I think that Ron Fournier of The National Journal wrote something that ran today about –
BRET BAIER: This was after he expressed himself last night on the panel.
POWERS: The headline is why I’m getting tired of defending Obamacare. And I’m going to say amen, brother, because it’s exactly how I feel. People who have supported the law, who support universal health care, are constantly put in the position of having to defend this president, who has really incompetently put this together, rolled it out, and that’s why he has to do this. It’s why he has to keep doing this, because it’s not working.
The objection from both assumes that this project had a hope of succeeding in the first place. Let’s not forget that ObamaCare passed nearly four years ago, and HHS had 42 months of lead time until its rollout date. Four months after that, the White House keeps shifting deadlines, plainly to avoid the political consequences of its utter failure and ineptitude. How long is long enough to climb off the bandwagon?
Fournier’s argument on that question rests on a supposed lack of alternatives:
I want the ACA to work because the GOP has not offered a serious alternative that can pass Congress.
That, however, is a circular argument — because a Congress controlled by Democrats in one chamber will not pass any kind of replacement for ObamaCare, no matter how “serious” or workable it might be. Harry Reid wouldn’t even bring it onto the agenda, let alone schedule a floor vote, and Democrats would close ranks with the White House even if he did. Fournier’s argument boils down to the acceptance that Democrats won’t change their minds, so we may as well keep cheering on the failure, and hope that the incompetents that produced it over four years can fix it in six months. That’s absurd, but it’s the final fig leaf for less-partisan supporters of ObamaCare.
False premis by Fournier, Republican ideas were shut out from the process. and it ignores the fact that many Republicans had then, and still have ideas on how to fix our healthcare system: An Obamacare Replacement in the Senate
Go to the link and it’s links and read well.
One of the most obvious reforms that Republicans have continually mentioned, from the early days of healthcare reform debate was allowing Health Insurance companies to sell across state lines. In fact it makes no sense given the commerce clause that states should have any power to deny such commerce, when other forms of insurance have the ability to sell across state lines. So, it behooves us to wonder, who is being paid off to block national marketing of health insurance plans and by whom. Someone needs to follow the money.
Great pick-up by Ed Morrisey and excellent comment by Ditto.
Powers:
She is being disingenuous or ignorant that almost every ”fix,” Obama has applied to ObamaCare was to help Dems, not to fix ObamaCare for ”the people.”
ObamaCare was skewed toward the Dems from its inception but I never thought its roll out would be so bungled.
It is a massive redistribution scheme with adjustments added in to help more Dems win elections.
@Nanny G: #2,
Well, IMHO, Powers is and has always been disingenuous and ignorant, . . . and unsightful, and she supported the goons in the W.H. for 5 years. How much intuition did that take? Sooo, what’s she doing on Fox?
Not many talking heads around worth a listen these days. I don’t look for someone agreeing with my perceptions, but I look for someone who seems to have thought about and understood the topic discussed. Where the hell are they hiding, . . . Powers certainly isn’t it.
@James Raider: Kirsten Powers is bitter since she has vehemently supported UCA (unaffordable care act) and now has found out this law is screwing her. Here is her quote “”I have talked about how I am losing my health insurance,” she said. “If I want to keep the same health insurance, it’s going to cost twice as much. There’s nothing substandard about my plan… All of the things they say that are not in my plan are in my plan, all of the things they have listed. There’s no explanation for the doubling of my premiums other than the fact that it’s subsidizing other people”
Fine then why isn’t anybody talking about MEDICARE FOR EVERYBODY? The worst part of ObamaCare was during the Supreme Court case which upheld the legality of ObamaCare, it came out that of course, ObamaCare was based heavily on RomneyCare, which had its origin in the bowels of the reactionary think tank, the Heritage Foundation.ObamaCare is life support for the bankrupt health insurance companies, turning them into a cartel.