Posted on 02/13/2014 5:36:57 AM PST by xzins
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):
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.
Fournier’s colleague Sam Baker argues that Obama’s doing most of the damage to his law now, not Republicans:
Republicans have done everything they can think of to strike down Obamacare, but they’ve still only managed to come in second place. For all the House votes to repeal, defund, or weaken Obamacare, some of the most significant setbacks for the law have come from the administration itself.
Monday’s delay in the law’s employer mandate was just the latest in a series of self-inflicted wounds, just like the HealthCare.gov launch and delays in several programs that simply weren’t ready for prime time.
To be clear, the self-inflicted wounds haven’t been fatal. Obamacare is moving forward—and the doomsayers’ prophecies have fallen flat: People are signing up, premiums are lower than expected, and the law’s basic survival is assured. It gets stronger every month as more people pour into new insurance marketplaces in each state.
But the law does have a specific vision of the future of health insurance. And to hit that vision, it relies on a delicate balance of popular carrots—think coverage for those with preexisting conditions—and unpopular sticks, such as the ever-controversial individual mandate. And the administration keeps chipping away at unpopular parts—sometimes directly, and sometimes by handing Republicans a political weapon.
By the way, who’s going to fix the website, which defenders have mostly cited as the main obstacle on the path to Nirvana? The names have changed, but the faces look awfully familiar:
After denigrating the work of CGI and replacing it as the largest contractor on the federal health care website, the Obama administration is negotiating with the company to extend its work on the project for a few months.
And the new prime contractor, Accenture, is trying to recruit and hire CGI employees to work under its supervision.
I’m sure that will work out well…
Its not working, idiot because a system like this CAN’T work. She is a real lib.
IT IS NOT, INCOMPETENCE!
It is by design.
It was intended from the beginning to destroy the system and collapse Capitalism.
NO other conclusion is warranted.
The Democraps will SAY they do not like THEIR OWN LAW just long enough to win the next election.
Then look for them to expand it
She would be happy with single payer.
Kristin Powers supports “universal health care.” She might be frustrated with MarxistCare, but her “solution” is even worse. Regardless, if leftist frustration holds down voter turnout in November the outcomes will be better.
I saw last week and again this morning that this is their election strategy: Run against ObamaCare.
That way they can try to be more against it, even though they voted for it, than the republican running against it. And the advertisers and strategists think the audience is dumb enough to buy it.
The truth: ...a sucker born every minute.
Their ad: “We’re against it. It’s broke. Our plan to fix it is better than my opponent who has no plan to fix it.”
The two main reasons Rats gave for ramming this bill through were:
1. Insuring the 30 million or so people who did not have coverage.
2. Provide affordable coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.
Latest reports are that there will be MORE than 30 million without insurance after 10 years AND that many people with pre-existing conditions cannot afford to purchase even the most basic coverage and are not able to keep their doctors.
Republicans had/have some excellent ideas for accomplishing the above which did/do not involve the co-opting of 1/6 of th U.S. economy. But Rats had to do it their way and they own the failure, lock, stock, and barrel.
It is an offense for a liberal to not support everything obama does...Off With Her Head!
Kristen Powers is hot.
She said as much.
She’s a lib but, at least informed and honest.
Did I say she was also Hot!
She’s hot....
LOL
She’s also six feet tall, didja know that?
One tall hot toddy mm-mmmm...
Look for the des to turn the narrative that the insurance companies wanted this mess, so they could get pre- existing customers off their bottom line...
The fools who promoted this won’t take responsibility for it though
Nohhhhhh!!!!
I like her head just where it is.
You are a Smart Gal, you know this unworkable.
Every time she takes a step towards Conservatism she recoils back, but she is heading our direction slowly.
The complaint by both Kirsten Powers and Ron Fournier was not that the scheme was wrong, but that the act was being administered incompetently. If only the right persons are administering the plan, THIS TIME it will work.
Except, the “right administrator” is never allowed to function. All this criticism, doncha know, from the reactionaries and naysayers, just spoils even the most perfectly prepared candidate to serve in that capacity, and destroys the beauty of the utopia and nirvana that has been pictured.
In the end, Obama will be responsible for converting more liberals into conservatives, more Democrats into Republicans, more athiests into Christians, more people into patriots, and more people into gunowners than any other president in the entire history of the U.S. Everything he set out to do flies against the natural laws of Man and God and he will fail in the end. Like Satan he’s just biding his time bing as destructive as possible. In the end his walls will come tumbling down and there will be new laws set in place to restrict the executive powers of the next presidents to keep this from ever happening again.
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