For all the wailing and crying many in the media have been doing lately about Obamacare, as we pointed out Tuesday, the truth is that the ACA is beginning to succeed. In many ways, that also means those on the political left are beginning to land punches not just politically, but on a policy level - a fact that terrifies many on the political right.
The perfect example of that kind of success is, in fact, the ACA - also known as Obamacare.
Indeed, as Greg Sargent noted Wednesday, Democratic political groups are revamping the strategies they used in 2012 to go on offense, in order to showcase the benefits of the Affordable Care Act. They're also highlighting the choice Republicans have forced the nation into for 2014: Should America fix the ACA, like Democrats want? Or should America repeal Obamacare entirely, then attempt to replace it with the empty platitudes and non-existent alternative legislation Republicans keep promising they'll come up with...someday.
As always, the real test is in the data - and those results are clearly showing Democrats landing more and more punches.
As John Cassidy pointed out in the New Yorker this week, in states where they've actually tried to make Obamacare work, Americans love it. Kevin Drum also focused our attention on a national poll from CBS that shows Obamacare has only taken a modest hit in the polls amidst all the negativity from the right - meaning that Americans still fundamentally believe in Obamacare.
The data also shows that the ACA is already accomplishing one of its top goals: to stop the continual rapid growth of health costs. As a report from the Council of Economic Advisers released this week proves, the ACA has slowed the rate of health care inflation to the lowest level in fifty years, slowing health care spending growth to its lowest level ever recorded. Like a panel of boxing judges, USA Today, Steve Benen, and Sarah Kliff all looked at the data and concurred: the ACA is winning the health cost fight.
That's not the only success for Democrats, though as Thomas Edsall notes, success on Obamacare is incredibly important.
Another big win for Democrats is happening in the inequality ring, specifically with the minimum wage fight. From Massachusetts and New Jersey, to Washington state, and California, Americans continue to vote in favor of substantial minimum wage increases, turning "minimum wage" jobs into "living wage" jobs.
Those are just wins though, that even the score. Democrats are finally going on offense too, after years of playing defense.
Senator Elizabeth Warren is a perfect example of this, especially in her speech earlier this week, calling for an expansion of Social Security. In case you'd forgotten, not only did Warren spearhead the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but the CFPB is already getting results. In concert with the DOJ, the CFPB helped broker the massive $13B penalty fine Wall Street goliath JP Morgan has to pay, because of the bank's shenanigans that helped cause the Great Recession. As David Dayen points out, that settlement isn't as harsh as it should have been - but it is a good start.
Democrats are also pushing forward in the Senate, ready to nuke the filibuster, they're pushing forward on the military sexual assault bill, and as Greg Sargent also pointed out, Democrats are daring Republicans to take the nation hostage over the budget deal in 2014.
In other words, Democrats are landing punches on all fronts, while Republicans are up against the ropes. Which means Democrats should not be questioning their ability or their positions.
The only thing Democrats should be questioning at this point is how much progress they’re willing to help the American people get.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Facing The Consequences
As we noted on Tuesday, while much of the media has been hyperventilating about Healthcare.gov, Obamacare enrollment actually seems to be sort of working now, and it could still succeed, much to the dismay of many on the right. Even as the website improves daily, Congress - or at least Congressional Democrats - have been attempting to get a few other things done.
Republicans in the Senate, however, have been finding new excuses to do nothing. The one thing they have done sucessfully is to keep a lid on their Democratic colleagues and President Obama, specifically by obstructing the president's long list of judicial nominees from confirmation. Just this week, Republicans filibustered the third nomination by President Obama for what's often considered the second highest court in the nation, the D.C. Circuit Court.
As Greg Sargent and others reported Tuesday afternoon, that act of obstruction by Senate Republicans may finally blow up in their faces, as it appears that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid may finally use the 'nuclear option.'
If this seems to you like a political version of Lucy yanking the football away from Charlie Brown yet again, we can't honestly disagree. We've been here several times before in the last few years, most recently in mid-July. As Jonathan Chait noted yesterday, though, things are a bit different this time.
This time, instead of simply blocking President Obama's nominees because Republicans disagree with the job the nominee is slated to fill, as they did with Richard Cordray, Republicans in the Senate are attempting to block all nominees by President Obama to the courts. As Chait notes, Senate Republicans believe "Obama has no right to alter the existing ideological balance of the courts" - even though every other President has had that right.
Whether or not this dates back to 2005, as Chait argues, or dates back even further, the fact remains that Republicans in the Senate are now attempting to impose a set of rules on this President, that has never been applied to any other President in history. Effectively, as Dylan Matthews points out, this Republican obstructionism might block President Obama's entire non-health care policy agenda for his second term - an obstructionist outcome Senate Democrats finally appear ready to blow up.
As Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post noted Tuesday afternoon, Senators Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein of California have finally stated they're ready to join with their Democratic colleagues to change the rules of the Senate. That means Harry Reid finally has fifty-one votes - enough to change the rules of the Senate so that judicial nominations become votes that pass with a simple majority.
Over at Washington Monthly, Jonathan Bernstein tried to figured out why Senate Republicans collectively might have made such a colossally bad political move with all of this obstructionism, when we think he hit on a key point: Senate Republicans, as a group, probably weren't thinking anything. Each person was thinking only of themselves, and how they'd look to their hard-core right-wing constituents, if they could keep a lid on all of President Obama's judicial nominations.
Now, it finally appears that strategy will blow up in their faces.
Republicans can't say they weren't warned. Obstructionism has consequences, as does selfishness.
Republicans in the Senate, however, have been finding new excuses to do nothing. The one thing they have done sucessfully is to keep a lid on their Democratic colleagues and President Obama, specifically by obstructing the president's long list of judicial nominees from confirmation. Just this week, Republicans filibustered the third nomination by President Obama for what's often considered the second highest court in the nation, the D.C. Circuit Court.
As Greg Sargent and others reported Tuesday afternoon, that act of obstruction by Senate Republicans may finally blow up in their faces, as it appears that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid may finally use the 'nuclear option.'
If this seems to you like a political version of Lucy yanking the football away from Charlie Brown yet again, we can't honestly disagree. We've been here several times before in the last few years, most recently in mid-July. As Jonathan Chait noted yesterday, though, things are a bit different this time.
This time, instead of simply blocking President Obama's nominees because Republicans disagree with the job the nominee is slated to fill, as they did with Richard Cordray, Republicans in the Senate are attempting to block all nominees by President Obama to the courts. As Chait notes, Senate Republicans believe "Obama has no right to alter the existing ideological balance of the courts" - even though every other President has had that right.
Whether or not this dates back to 2005, as Chait argues, or dates back even further, the fact remains that Republicans in the Senate are now attempting to impose a set of rules on this President, that has never been applied to any other President in history. Effectively, as Dylan Matthews points out, this Republican obstructionism might block President Obama's entire non-health care policy agenda for his second term - an obstructionist outcome Senate Democrats finally appear ready to blow up.
As Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post noted Tuesday afternoon, Senators Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein of California have finally stated they're ready to join with their Democratic colleagues to change the rules of the Senate. That means Harry Reid finally has fifty-one votes - enough to change the rules of the Senate so that judicial nominations become votes that pass with a simple majority.
Over at Washington Monthly, Jonathan Bernstein tried to figured out why Senate Republicans collectively might have made such a colossally bad political move with all of this obstructionism, when we think he hit on a key point: Senate Republicans, as a group, probably weren't thinking anything. Each person was thinking only of themselves, and how they'd look to their hard-core right-wing constituents, if they could keep a lid on all of President Obama's judicial nominations.
Now, it finally appears that strategy will blow up in their faces.
Republicans can't say they weren't warned. Obstructionism has consequences, as does selfishness.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
What Passes For News
As the Thanksgiving holiday rapidly approaches, we're giving thanks that our regular employers and clients won't be forcing us to work on the holiday this year, like so many retailers are doing to their employees. In fact, most of our staff members have been trying to keep up with the "Month of Thankfulness" theme happening on Facebook, in which people try to post something different each day they're thankful for.
One thing we know we're all thankful for is a small but measurable group of journalists and writers who - unlike much of the political media - haven't completely abandoned their professional ethics in favor of dumping dramatic dreck, gunk, and garbage.
In case you'd missed it, the majority of sell-out whores of the journalism field have been gleefully piling on the right-wing propaganda wagon, claiming ridiculous baloney like "Obamacare is on Life Support" or saying it's "The Beginning of The End for Obama." Frankly, wading through their lies has been worse than opening the newspaper to find an accidental surprise from the dog.
Thankfully, there are those like Greg Sargent, Joan Walsh, Jamelle Bouie, the Jonathans - Cohn, Chait, and Bernstein - and a few key others who've been paying attention to what's really been happening with the rollout of Obamacare.
Indeed, as we touched on Monday, as Joan Walsh nailed last Friday, and as Ezra Klein hit perfectly yesterday, Obamacare's flaws are not like Hurricane Katrina. Anyone who is being intellectually honest should stop comparing the two right now.
Of course, the right wing has been effectively hyperventilating about the idea that the messy rollout of Obamacare would be a disaster, as Jonathan Chait noted on Monday. Paul Waldman of The Prospect even warned the Obamacare panic could be entering an even stupider phase - though Kevin Drum at Mother Jones believes the Obamacare hysteria bubble is about to burst.
The truth is, as Jonathan Bernstein noted, that Democrats are not turning against the Affordable Care Act. Greg Sargent has also been spelling it out clearly at The Plum Line Blog for some time now, that the problems with Obamacare aren't the path to political salvation that many on the right wing are wishing for.
Of course, if our media colleagues on the sell-out side of aisle had done their research, as Johnathan Cohn did, it would become obvious that a massive amount of attention is being given to the problems of relatively few Americans trying to get health insurance under the new rules of the ACA. Those who have signed up, and aren't just regurgitating the talking points they've gotten from Fox, agree that signing up for insurance now wasn't super easy - but it was certainly more than worth any trouble they ran into.
What's more, as Jamelle Bouie points out, without all of the problems created by Republicans at both the state and Federal levels, Obamacare would be in MUCH better shape. Republicans can't honestly complain about the rollout of the ACA going poorly because they're the ones that are responsible for many of the complications they're complaining about.
For all the negative hyperbole, hype, and gunk dripping out of the news about Obamacare, the facts still remain: Since the right has no viable health insurance alternative, it's time they stop trying to pass off their oozing hatred of President Obama and his signature legislation as news.
We get it. They hate the black guy in the White House.
That's not news to anyone.
One thing we know we're all thankful for is a small but measurable group of journalists and writers who - unlike much of the political media - haven't completely abandoned their professional ethics in favor of dumping dramatic dreck, gunk, and garbage.
In case you'd missed it, the majority of sell-out whores of the journalism field have been gleefully piling on the right-wing propaganda wagon, claiming ridiculous baloney like "Obamacare is on Life Support" or saying it's "The Beginning of The End for Obama." Frankly, wading through their lies has been worse than opening the newspaper to find an accidental surprise from the dog.
Thankfully, there are those like Greg Sargent, Joan Walsh, Jamelle Bouie, the Jonathans - Cohn, Chait, and Bernstein - and a few key others who've been paying attention to what's really been happening with the rollout of Obamacare.
Indeed, as we touched on Monday, as Joan Walsh nailed last Friday, and as Ezra Klein hit perfectly yesterday, Obamacare's flaws are not like Hurricane Katrina. Anyone who is being intellectually honest should stop comparing the two right now.
Of course, the right wing has been effectively hyperventilating about the idea that the messy rollout of Obamacare would be a disaster, as Jonathan Chait noted on Monday. Paul Waldman of The Prospect even warned the Obamacare panic could be entering an even stupider phase - though Kevin Drum at Mother Jones believes the Obamacare hysteria bubble is about to burst.
The truth is, as Jonathan Bernstein noted, that Democrats are not turning against the Affordable Care Act. Greg Sargent has also been spelling it out clearly at The Plum Line Blog for some time now, that the problems with Obamacare aren't the path to political salvation that many on the right wing are wishing for.
Of course, if our media colleagues on the sell-out side of aisle had done their research, as Johnathan Cohn did, it would become obvious that a massive amount of attention is being given to the problems of relatively few Americans trying to get health insurance under the new rules of the ACA. Those who have signed up, and aren't just regurgitating the talking points they've gotten from Fox, agree that signing up for insurance now wasn't super easy - but it was certainly more than worth any trouble they ran into.
What's more, as Jamelle Bouie points out, without all of the problems created by Republicans at both the state and Federal levels, Obamacare would be in MUCH better shape. Republicans can't honestly complain about the rollout of the ACA going poorly because they're the ones that are responsible for many of the complications they're complaining about.
For all the negative hyperbole, hype, and gunk dripping out of the news about Obamacare, the facts still remain: Since the right has no viable health insurance alternative, it's time they stop trying to pass off their oozing hatred of President Obama and his signature legislation as news.
We get it. They hate the black guy in the White House.
That's not news to anyone.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)