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Krugman: Obamacare Versus The Wusses
Obamacare Versus The Wusses
ne of the odd rituals of American punditry — the most famous example is Karl Rove’s tantrum in 2012, but it happens all the time — is the way pundits and operatives keep spinning after the polls have closed. Never mind the vote totals, and let’s dispute the network projections; my guy is still winning!
The obvious question is, what’s the point? The votes are already in; you can’t build momentum, or attract more donations, or any of those other things that claims of imminent victory might do. Wouldn’t election night be a good time to adopt the persona of hard-headed realist, not delusional wishful thinker? Yet this hardly ever happens.
Something like this is going on with Obamacare. Not a day goes by without some prominent Republican politician or pundit insisting that the enrollment numbers are phony, that more people are losing insurance than gaining it, etc.. I know that’s what the base believes, because it’s what they hear from Rush and Fox. But you would think that important people would have someone around who has a clue, who knows that enrollment data and multiple surveys are all telling the same story of unexpected success. OK, maybe not — if famous senators don’t have anyone to clue them in about BLS data, they might really still be living in the bubble. But that’s really their choice.
And the point is that with enrollment more or less closed for 2014, there’s not much point in spinning. OK, maybe if you can keep up the pretense all the way to November, you can slightly sway base voters for the midterms. But even that’s doubtful — by the fall, we’re going to have a very clear picture of how things went; and the shape of that picture has already been determined...what gets me is the — to use the technical term — wussiness of it all. Isn’t there any space on the right for people who sell themselves as tough-minded, who condemn Obamacare on principle but warn their followers that it’s not on the verge of collapse? Is the whole party so insecure, so unable to handle the truth, that it automatically shoots anyone bearing bad news?
And the answer appears to be yes.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/19/obamacare-versus-the-wusses/
ne of the odd rituals of American punditry — the most famous example is Karl Rove’s tantrum in 2012, but it happens all the time — is the way pundits and operatives keep spinning after the polls have closed. Never mind the vote totals, and let’s dispute the network projections; my guy is still winning!
The obvious question is, what’s the point? The votes are already in; you can’t build momentum, or attract more donations, or any of those other things that claims of imminent victory might do. Wouldn’t election night be a good time to adopt the persona of hard-headed realist, not delusional wishful thinker? Yet this hardly ever happens.
Something like this is going on with Obamacare. Not a day goes by without some prominent Republican politician or pundit insisting that the enrollment numbers are phony, that more people are losing insurance than gaining it, etc.. I know that’s what the base believes, because it’s what they hear from Rush and Fox. But you would think that important people would have someone around who has a clue, who knows that enrollment data and multiple surveys are all telling the same story of unexpected success. OK, maybe not — if famous senators don’t have anyone to clue them in about BLS data, they might really still be living in the bubble. But that’s really their choice.
And the point is that with enrollment more or less closed for 2014, there’s not much point in spinning. OK, maybe if you can keep up the pretense all the way to November, you can slightly sway base voters for the midterms. But even that’s doubtful — by the fall, we’re going to have a very clear picture of how things went; and the shape of that picture has already been determined...what gets me is the — to use the technical term — wussiness of it all. Isn’t there any space on the right for people who sell themselves as tough-minded, who condemn Obamacare on principle but warn their followers that it’s not on the verge of collapse? Is the whole party so insecure, so unable to handle the truth, that it automatically shoots anyone bearing bad news?
And the answer appears to be yes.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/19/obamacare-versus-the-wusses/
Americans increasingly prefer Democrats on healthcare: Reuters/Ipsos poll
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024830667#post26
Cartoon: The Obamacare Disaster
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024847171
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