Today may be April Fools' Day, but we're certainly not kidding around about our focus today.
For more than seven years now, members of the media have been referring to "Obamacare." And it has now been four years since the 'Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act' - the real name of the law - went into effect.
There have been more column inches in print, more pixels online, more political cartoons drawn, and in general more discussion about this topic than almost any topic that our staff or any journalist we know has ever covered. We personally know more than one health policy journalist who is as sick of this topic as the rest of America is - and this is the topic they're experts on.
Still, when we saw Paul Waldman's piece Monday afternoon at Greg Sargent's Plum Line, we almost had to jump for joy. The title of his piece says it all: "Obamacare fails to collapse. Time to move on, folks." Frankly, we couldn't agree more.
We're fairly sure, however, that many media and political figures on the right feel differently. Much like Election Night 2012, what they're likely feeling is likely a mixture of shock, anger, and denial, along with a feeling of being duped by their own propaganda. Like devoted sports fans who've just watched their favorite sports team get destroyed in the last game of the season, right-wing politicos are still sitting, dazed, hours after the Obamacare enrollment deadline passed, wondering how they could have been so wrong.
Indeed, just as the open enrollment period ended last night, the AP confirmed: The number of Americans signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act has now reached the Obama Administration's optimistic goal of 7 million. Some people have even signed up directly with insurers. It all adds up to 9.5 million Americans who have health insurance now, who were uninsured six months ago.
For those on the political right, the news only gets worse from there.
Not only has the public's support of Obamacare gone into positive territory in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll - it also hit a new high in the latest poll from Fox, which they quickly buried. Democrats and those on the political left are finally beginning to rally behind the law as well.
For any American who actually cares about fixing our broken health care payment system - which, after all, has always been the point of health insurance reform - the fact that Obamacare seems to be building steam and getting positive results is something to cheer about. That said, as many journalists have noted multiple times (though we personally credit Greg Sargent for saying it first and most often over the last few years), the true test for the law will be if it really works over time.
For now, we firmly agree with Paul Waldman: The time for Obamacare to be a headline issue is done.
We fully expect that some on the right will still cling to the crazy idea of repealing the law throughout the 2014 political season, and maybe even longer. Like a sports fan stuck in disbelief and denial though, still staring at a now-empty television set hours after the big loss, dreaming the outcome had been different, Republicans are going to have a hard time dealing with reality.
The fact is, the fight's over. The political right lost. Badly.
It's time for all of America to move on.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Monday, March 31, 2014
Americans Striking Out On Real Priorities
Regardless of how Mother Nature chooses to act today, the priorities of millions of Americans will be focused on the Opening Day of Major League Baseball, rather than whatever they're supposed to be doing at work. That simple fact only serves to drive home the point - priorities matter.
That truism was incredibly obvious over the last few days in states from Washington, to Nebraska, to New York.
In Nebraska, as we'd warned back in January, the priorities of the Republican Governor became blisteringly apparent over the weekend. Nebraska's Gov. Dave Heineman took out his veto pen over the weekend and gutted funding for job training and development in order to get a shiny new plane for the governor's office as well as tax cuts for the state's wealthiest landowners.
Unfortunately, the Democratic Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, wasn't really much better than his GOP counterpart in Nebraska. Cuomo and New York's state legislature did approve a state budget on Saturday that would provide $300 million for prekindergarten in New York City - a laudable accomplishment. However, Cuomo and his state legislature also approved tax rebates and tax cuts for some of the wealthiest people in New York state, while allowing most of New York state's highly corrupt campaign financing laws to continue.
Meanwhile, in Washington state, the death toll continued to rise, as volunteers and authorities continued to dig for the bodies of friends and loved ones buried by the massive mudslide last week. Even as more bodies have been unearthed, so have details proving the priorities of 'Evergreen State' officials have been more about greenbacks than green thumbs. Warnings about building and logging in the valley where the mudslide occurred go back decades. Yet, unsurprisingly, both developers and loggers were allowed to work and build in areas that scientific studies said they should have left alone - resulting in yet another completely preventable tragedy for dozens of families.
Don't even get us started about how unprepared L.A. is for another major earthquake - or how GM could have prevented a whole series of deaths years ago, but thanks to the corporate culture in America, hid their deadly defect instead.
That politics in America is broken should surprise no one. That Americans seem so ready to let our collective priorities slide so easily as we slip into a hereditary oligarchy, however, surprises even us. If you don't believe it, just check the horse race predictions for 2016. Rich Republicans are once again pushing to have Jeb Bush run for President in 2016, while Democrats are counting on Hillary Clinton to run - and win. The backup candidates for each major party aren't much better, as they include the son of longtime libertarian hero Ron Paul, and Andrew Cuomo, who we already mentioned.
From New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's gratuitous groveling before billionaire Sheldon Adelson, to the billionaire Koch Brothers pushing a wave of restrictive voting laws because Republicans today can't win fairly run elections with their extremist rhetoric, the new billionaire political bosses are trying to buy Democracy outright, and kill it.
Sadly, the stomach-turning reality too few have the courage to admit is that millions of Americans seem willing to let the top one-hundredth percent of the wealthiest buy their government out from under them - just as long as that 99.99% aren't prevented from watching their favorite sports or fantasy entertainment.
We understand and even laud the need to get away from the realities of life for a mental health day every once in a while - and opening day is a better time than many to play hooky in the collective opinion of our staff. Too many Americans aren't just playing hooky, though - they've almost permanently abdicated their responsibilities as citizen legislators.
As all the examples we focused on today clearly display: Americans need to get their priorities in order. The future of the country, and indeed the world, depends on it.
That truism was incredibly obvious over the last few days in states from Washington, to Nebraska, to New York.
In Nebraska, as we'd warned back in January, the priorities of the Republican Governor became blisteringly apparent over the weekend. Nebraska's Gov. Dave Heineman took out his veto pen over the weekend and gutted funding for job training and development in order to get a shiny new plane for the governor's office as well as tax cuts for the state's wealthiest landowners.
Unfortunately, the Democratic Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, wasn't really much better than his GOP counterpart in Nebraska. Cuomo and New York's state legislature did approve a state budget on Saturday that would provide $300 million for prekindergarten in New York City - a laudable accomplishment. However, Cuomo and his state legislature also approved tax rebates and tax cuts for some of the wealthiest people in New York state, while allowing most of New York state's highly corrupt campaign financing laws to continue.
Meanwhile, in Washington state, the death toll continued to rise, as volunteers and authorities continued to dig for the bodies of friends and loved ones buried by the massive mudslide last week. Even as more bodies have been unearthed, so have details proving the priorities of 'Evergreen State' officials have been more about greenbacks than green thumbs. Warnings about building and logging in the valley where the mudslide occurred go back decades. Yet, unsurprisingly, both developers and loggers were allowed to work and build in areas that scientific studies said they should have left alone - resulting in yet another completely preventable tragedy for dozens of families.
Don't even get us started about how unprepared L.A. is for another major earthquake - or how GM could have prevented a whole series of deaths years ago, but thanks to the corporate culture in America, hid their deadly defect instead.
That politics in America is broken should surprise no one. That Americans seem so ready to let our collective priorities slide so easily as we slip into a hereditary oligarchy, however, surprises even us. If you don't believe it, just check the horse race predictions for 2016. Rich Republicans are once again pushing to have Jeb Bush run for President in 2016, while Democrats are counting on Hillary Clinton to run - and win. The backup candidates for each major party aren't much better, as they include the son of longtime libertarian hero Ron Paul, and Andrew Cuomo, who we already mentioned.
From New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's gratuitous groveling before billionaire Sheldon Adelson, to the billionaire Koch Brothers pushing a wave of restrictive voting laws because Republicans today can't win fairly run elections with their extremist rhetoric, the new billionaire political bosses are trying to buy Democracy outright, and kill it.
Sadly, the stomach-turning reality too few have the courage to admit is that millions of Americans seem willing to let the top one-hundredth percent of the wealthiest buy their government out from under them - just as long as that 99.99% aren't prevented from watching their favorite sports or fantasy entertainment.
We understand and even laud the need to get away from the realities of life for a mental health day every once in a while - and opening day is a better time than many to play hooky in the collective opinion of our staff. Too many Americans aren't just playing hooky, though - they've almost permanently abdicated their responsibilities as citizen legislators.
As all the examples we focused on today clearly display: Americans need to get their priorities in order. The future of the country, and indeed the world, depends on it.
Friday, March 28, 2014
Pluses & Minuses Of The Modern World
In political news-speak, Friday used to be known as "trash day." That was the day of the week when - if you were involved in politics or government - you tended to release information you'd rather the public didn't see. With the 24/7 internet media cycle we all live in today, however, stories about almost anyone's latest stupid, ugly, or unfortunate actions won't just be buried in the late edition of the Friday afternoon newspaper - the one almost nobody would read - and forgotten.
That means that whether you're a Democratic politican in San Francisco getting arrested in corruption raids, or a Republican Governor of New Jersey trying to sell an obviously fictionalized legal defense, your dirty laundry isn't going to be easily swept under the proverbial rug.
As both journalists and citizens, that's a change from how things used to be - one that all our staff members tend to think of as a positive development.
Sadly, for every 'yin' there's a 'yang', and in the world of media, that 'yang' remains the incredibly destructive 'Citizens United' decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which has allowed the billionaire political bosses and their flood of nearly unlimited campaign propaganda.
As Americans all over the country have already been finding out this election year, the peace and quiet of their own homes is already being disturbed by the disgusting, filth-and-lies oozing monster of effectively unlimited campaign contributions buying ad after ad on our televisions, radios, and computers.
From the Koch Brothers and their ads which have been repeatedly debunked, to billionaire Sheldon Adelson who outwardly is admitting he's trying to buy the best candidates to win in 2016, the corrosive effects of too much poorly regulated money in our political system is all over our media. That kind of oozing media monster isn't always effective - as the ridiculous castration ad from Joni Earnst in Iowa, and the incredibly out-of-touch Duke-over-Kentucky ad of Mitch McConnell have already proven this cycle.
Not all stories about money and politics in America today are bad, however.
What if we told you there's a young man, who has instant access to one of the richest men in the world, and who's aiming to get money almost completely out of politics in America. His plan would include getting all those political ads off your TV...in the next seven years.
That young man's name is Jonathan Soros, son of well-known multibillionaire George Soros - though, as he's displayed in more than one arena, he's more than just the scion of one of the wealthiest persons on Earth.
David Freedlander, in Politico Magazine, just published a fantastic focus piece on the younger Soros, and his efforts with the Friends of Democracy PAC. That's a political action committee the young private investment operator is aiming to use to get money almost completely out of politics here in America. While the younger Soros is working on legislative efforts both in Congress, and in his own home state of New York, he has no problem taking on unsavory oligarchs like Tom Perkins, as Soros did in Reuters just last month.
Of course, we're skeptical of whether he'll be successful - but we're actually more than a bit hopeful he will be, for all kinds of reasons, both personal and professional.
One of the biggest reasons we hope Jonathan Soros is successful...? We'd like to watch a little bit of TV, sometime in the near future, without having to face the monster of bad political advertising in our off time.
At least we have a wonderful tool known as the remote control to help us avoid those silly ads, for now.
Ahhhh, the wonders of the modern world.
That means that whether you're a Democratic politican in San Francisco getting arrested in corruption raids, or a Republican Governor of New Jersey trying to sell an obviously fictionalized legal defense, your dirty laundry isn't going to be easily swept under the proverbial rug.
As both journalists and citizens, that's a change from how things used to be - one that all our staff members tend to think of as a positive development.
Sadly, for every 'yin' there's a 'yang', and in the world of media, that 'yang' remains the incredibly destructive 'Citizens United' decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which has allowed the billionaire political bosses and their flood of nearly unlimited campaign propaganda.
As Americans all over the country have already been finding out this election year, the peace and quiet of their own homes is already being disturbed by the disgusting, filth-and-lies oozing monster of effectively unlimited campaign contributions buying ad after ad on our televisions, radios, and computers.
From the Koch Brothers and their ads which have been repeatedly debunked, to billionaire Sheldon Adelson who outwardly is admitting he's trying to buy the best candidates to win in 2016, the corrosive effects of too much poorly regulated money in our political system is all over our media. That kind of oozing media monster isn't always effective - as the ridiculous castration ad from Joni Earnst in Iowa, and the incredibly out-of-touch Duke-over-Kentucky ad of Mitch McConnell have already proven this cycle.
Not all stories about money and politics in America today are bad, however.
What if we told you there's a young man, who has instant access to one of the richest men in the world, and who's aiming to get money almost completely out of politics in America. His plan would include getting all those political ads off your TV...in the next seven years.
That young man's name is Jonathan Soros, son of well-known multibillionaire George Soros - though, as he's displayed in more than one arena, he's more than just the scion of one of the wealthiest persons on Earth.
David Freedlander, in Politico Magazine, just published a fantastic focus piece on the younger Soros, and his efforts with the Friends of Democracy PAC. That's a political action committee the young private investment operator is aiming to use to get money almost completely out of politics here in America. While the younger Soros is working on legislative efforts both in Congress, and in his own home state of New York, he has no problem taking on unsavory oligarchs like Tom Perkins, as Soros did in Reuters just last month.
Of course, we're skeptical of whether he'll be successful - but we're actually more than a bit hopeful he will be, for all kinds of reasons, both personal and professional.
One of the biggest reasons we hope Jonathan Soros is successful...? We'd like to watch a little bit of TV, sometime in the near future, without having to face the monster of bad political advertising in our off time.
At least we have a wonderful tool known as the remote control to help us avoid those silly ads, for now.
Ahhhh, the wonders of the modern world.
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