WH Chief of Staff McDonough acting as fireman as Hill Dems sweat Obamacare rollout

American Thinker ^ | 7/24/13 | Rick Moran

[cotton1706]

Does this remind anyone else of the scene in "Animal House" where Kevin Bacon tries to stop a stampede of terrified parade-goers by saying "All is well...all is well"?

Politico:

White House officials knew that selling Obamacare to the public would be difficult, but it wasn't until Sen. Max Baucus called the rollout a "huge train wreck coming down" that they realized they were losing a key constituency: congressional Democrats.

So White House chief of staff Denis McDonough quietly added the job of Capitol Hill confidence builder to his portfolio.

Armed with a PowerPoint presentation and a direct line to President Barack Obama, McDonough has spent the past three months soothing Democratic anxieties over the most divisive health care expansion in decades. He meets every other week with Baucus, briefs vulnerable Democrats on the administration's progress and treks up to the Hill on a moment's notice to visit offices unannounced.

McDonough's message: We've got this. His stepped-up role on health care is part of a congressional outreach effort that had been highly unusual for the Obama White House, which has had a dysfunctional relationship with the Hill. But with Democrats worried about both the logistics and politics of Obamacare, his intervention is viewed as necessary to protect the president's signature legislative achievement.

"They know they had a problem," Baucus said in an interview. "They're dealing with it very forthrightly. I feel better about it than I did before."

McDonough's outreach isn't limited to health care.

He has toured Guantánamo Bay with Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), taken late-night calls from Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) while washing dishes at home, and dropped by Sen. Joe Manchin's office for an impromptu chat with the West Virginia Democrat's top aides.

[RightOnTheBorder]

We just had a nice sit down in my office where all the employees were told that nobody knows how Obamacare is going to effect the cost of healthcare when our current plan ends in October. Basically if healthcare gets too expensive, all the employees lose it and the company will pay the fine, which is cheaper than our current insurance rates.

I wonder how many employees around the country are having similar meetings and how many Obama voters are losing health care coverage. In my small office, the three employees hurt worst by this were/are all supportive of Obama.

[WaterWeWaitinFor]

I wonder how many employees around the country are having similar meetings and how many Obama voters are losing health care coverage. In my small office, the three employees hurt worst by this were/are all supportive of Obama.”

Don't you just want to SCREAM at these scumbucket know-nothing, ill-informed, white-guilt ridden peeps for voting this anti-American, disgusting excuse for a prez into office?

Well, I do. I say to them, right in their faces. YOU GET what YOU Voted for..... now ARE YOU HAPPY? And then tell them “I told you so” that their vote would have repercussions for all of us. Disgusting.

[AZLiberty]

I just wish John McCain would stay away from this “fireman’s” hose.