Kathleen Sebelius is resigning because Obamacare has won

Vox ^ | April 10, 2014 | Ezra Klein

[2ndDivisionVet]

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Obamacare has won. And that's why Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius can resign.

Calls for Sebelius's resignation were almost constant after Obamacare's catastrophic launch. The problem wasn't just that Sebelius had presided over the construction of a fantastically expensive web site that flatly didn't work. It was that she didn't know healthcare.gov was going to instantly, systemically fail. And so the White House didn't know that healthcare.gov was going to instantly, systemically fail. The demands that Sebelius to step down — or be fired — were as deafening inside the building as outside of it.

But President Obama refused. As National Journal's Major Garrett reported, Obama believes that "scaring people with a ceremonial firing deepens fear, turns allies against one another, makes them risk-averse, and saps productivity." Moreover, there was too much to be done to fire one of the few people who knew how to finish the job. Sebelius would stay. The White House wouldn't panic in ways that made it harder to save the law.

The evidence has piled up in recent weeks that the strategy worked. Obamacare's first year, despite a truly horrific start, was a success. More than 7 million people look to have signed up for health insurance through the exchanges. Millions more have signed up through Medicaid. And millions beyond that have signed up for insurance through their employers.

Healthcare.gov isn't perfect, but it works. We don't yet know how many young people signed up in March, but it's clear that there are enough of them to keep premiums stable in 2015. It's clear that insurers are going to stick with the program in 2015, and compete hard to sign up next year's wave of young, healthy applicants.

Even Republicans committed to the law's repeal are admitting that the law is back on its expected track. "The rollout made Obamacare's collapse seem like a possibility," wrote Ramesh Ponnuru at Bloomberg View. But "now that it's resolved, the debate continues basically along the same lines that everyone expected a year ago. The law will continue to be implemented, with the administration making whatever revisions it thinks necessary."

The White House says Sebelius notified the President in March that "she felt confident in the trajectory for enrollment and implementation," and that once open enrollment ended, "it would be the right time to transition the Department to new leadership."

In other words, the law has won its survival. The Obama administration can exhale. Personnel changes can be made. A new team — led by Office of Management and Budget Director Sylvia Matthews Burwell, who the White House calls a proven manager— can be brought in to continue to improve the law. And Sebelius can leave with her head held high. She can leave with the law she helped build looking, shockingly, like a success.

[kcvl]

In February 2007 Klein created a Google Groups forum called “JournoList” for discussing politics and the news media. The forum’s membership was controlled by Klein and limited to “several hundred left-leaning bloggers, political reporters, magazine writers, policy wonks and academics”. Posts within JournoList were intended only to be made and read by its members. Klein defended the forum saying that it “[ensures] that folks feel safe giving off-the-cuff analysis and instant reactions”. JournoList member, and Time magazine columnist, Joe Klein added that the off-the-record nature of the forum was necessary because “candor is essential and can only be guaranteed by keeping these conversations private”.

The existence of JournoList was first publicly revealed in a July 27, 2007, blog post by blogger Mickey Kaus. However, the forum did not attract serious attention until March 17, 2009, when an article published on Politico detailed the nature of the forum and the extent of its membership. The Politico article set off debate within the Blogosphere over the ethics of participating in JournoList and raised questions about its purpose. The first public excerpt of a discussion within JournoList was posted by Mickey Kaus on his blog on March 26, 2009.

In addition to Ezra Klein, members of JournoList included, among others: Jeffrey Toobin, Eric Alterman, Paul Krugman, Joe Klein (no relation to Ezra Klein), Matthew Yglesias, and Jonathan Chait.

On June 25, 2010, Ezra Klein announced in his Washington Post blog that he would be terminating the JournoList group. This decision was instigated by fellow blogger Dave Weigel’s resignation from the Post following the public exposure of several of his JournoList emails about conservative media figures.

Klein had justified excluding conservative Republicans from participation as “not about fostering ideology but preventing a collapse into flame war. The emphasis is on empiricism, not ideology”.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Ezra Klein writes while wearing a DNA stained blue dress.

[tumblindice]

As a postscript, Vet, loonies like Klein would save us a lot of time if they would introduce articles like this one with:

“Attention comrades! Comrades, I have glorious news for you!”

[tumblindice]

As a postscript, Vet, loonies like Klein would save us a lot of time if they would introduce articles like this one with:

“Attention comrades! Comrades, I have glorious news for you!”

[goldstategop]

Dear friends, the Republicans make too much of Sebelius' resignation! They haven't liked Obamacare from Day One. She resigned not because it failed but as a result of Mission Accomplished! Her successor has an enviable legacy. No matter what they say or do - the critics can't find anything superior to Obamacare. Their spin is as pathetic as their lies. We will win in November and the Republicans will be shocked to discover the country really does want to keep Obamacare. And its flaws - aren't there always some in life? - are well on the way to being fixed. All they are is nattering nabobs of negativism. But they can't argue with the fact people have signed up. You go girl - you go - out with your head held high for making affordable health care a reality at last for millions of Americans.

[dragnet2]

And Sebelius can leave with her head held high. She can leave with the law she helped build looking, shockingly, like a success.

Did the author of this take lessons from Tokyo Rose?

[A message]

Ezra Klein. Pffft. A typical liberal pretentious twerp.

[Castigar]

“Kathleen Sebelius is resigning because Obamacare has won”

I have come to the conclusion that arguing with a liberal/progressive is like the Dead Parrot sketch in Monty Python. The parrot is clearly dead and nailed to the perch but the liberal will tell you it’s resting or it’s pining for the fjords.

They will literally say ANYTHING and what’s worse is, people will believe them!

[tumblindice]

(Sorry about the stutter, but this is Orwellian through-and-through.)

[2ndDivisionVet]

Yes, I posted threads about Weigel:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2541945/posts

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2553375/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3034158/posts

[goldstategop]

See my post! Don’t I give great spin? Ezra Klein should be fired. :)

[ari-freedom]

“On June 25, 2010, Ezra Klein announced in his Washington Post blog that he would be terminating the JournoList group. This decision was instigated by fellow blogger Dave Weigel’s resignation from the Post following the public exposure of several of his JournoList emails about conservative media figures.”

But Dave Weigel resigned because JournoList won!

[montag813]

He’s right. The House GOP is already surrendering. The Chamber of Crony Capitalism likes it. ObamaCare will never be repealed.

[fatima]

:)

[goldstategop]

You got to hand it to the Left, they really do know how to make silk out of a sow’s ear.

[Slyfox]

[ari-freedom]

“See my post! Don’t I give great spin? Ezra Klein should be fired. :)”

Then he’ll say that means he really really won

[kik5150]

” A new team ...can be brought in to continue to improve the law.”

Silly me. I thought once voted on, a law was a law and could not be changed or “improved”.

[goldstategop]

My point is these people live in a fantasy world with no acknowledgment of reality. The way they see it - the symbolism of Obamacare is more important than whether it actually made health care insurance accessible to the previously uninsured.

[goldstategop]

That’s why Obama has flexibility.