…for most of the three years since Obamacare was passed, the majority of the population has disapproved of it (see the second chart here at Real Clear Politics), yet that didn’t really translate into significant public anger or political action, beyond the 2010 mid-term election results. In fact, Sen. Ted Cruz’s filibuster attempt and the House’s short-lived shutdown appeared to push public opinion against those actors rather than against Obamacare.
But that has changed, and dramatically, with the law actually going into effect — and Healthcare.gov going live — back on October 1st. For the first time, Obamacare got “close enough” to significant portions of the American electorate to trigger a sudden shift in actual emotional response from a generic disapproval to outright hostility. I believe that Obama and his Administration — lulled, perhaps, by the more passive dislike evinced by the public up until now — have been caught genuinely off-guard by the dramatic change in public opinion in a month’s time, not just towards Obamacare but towards Obama himself. I believe that shift in fact represents a ‘catastrophe’ — that is, an abrupt transition from one state to another– brought on by the realities of Obamacare hitting home.
I don’t think there’s any precedent for a second-term president recovering from something like this.
I don’t think there can be a recovery, because part of the big shift was that a majority now don’t think Obama is trustworthy. People now realize they were lied too continuously, intentionally, and that they and their families were conned. As I’ve noted before, “retrust” isn’t a word in the English language because once trust is lost, it is never really regained. Part of his plummeting poll numbers among women no doubt reflect this, as they realize the dreamboat is nothing but a shifty, sweet-talking liar and a cad who is not only willing to screw them over, but no doubt is laughing about having done it. On top of that, he turns out to be an incompetent boob who always tries to talk his way out of the disasters he creates.
The problem is that dear leader is immune to such things. He won’t be running for anything after this, and he’s currently living in a fantasy world where it’s all working fine anyway. The people who will suffer (besides, you know, the rest of us) are the loyal dems who backed him and this turd of a law.
The real problem is that, as much as they may now dislike The Great Leader, they’ll be lining up to vote for his successor, who’ll be just as bad.
Leftyists really seem to believe that the problem isn’t their policies, it’s that they just haven’t found the right The Great Leader yet to implement them properly.
“If we elect Elizabeth Warren, all Americans will get free services on the tribal health care systems maintained by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, dammit!”
“Leftyists really seem to believe that the problem isn’t their policies, it’s that they just haven’t found the right The Great Leader yet to implement them properly.”
…and they also think it’s simply a matter of execution. Next time they will get it right.
Standby for a “Wag The Dog.”
“I don’t think there’s any precedent for a second-term president recovering,,,,”
Reagan recovered from selling weapons to Iran.
Clinton recovered from Monica.
Neither of those things actually affected the lives of millions of Americans on a personal level like this. They were lied to (repeatedly) and because of that lie, they will be paying a lot more for something they consider very important to their well being. You do not screw with people on that level and get forgiven.
Some people are paying more, lots are paying less.
The exact fallout isn’t as smooth as the planners would like but, it’s working about
as well as one can hope.
The Democratic Left wanted everyone put on Medicare. Bang. Single Payer, take the tax through
payroll, twiddle the tax rate 1%, done.
The Bill could have been 2 pages long.
But this thing is just Romneycare 50X. Romneycare has had some teething problems in massachusetts, but it’s working. Most people have cover, the rates aren’t too bad, and
the medical system hasn’t collapsed.
You just keep whistling past that Democrat graveyard, Douchenozzle.
The Democratic Left wanted everyone put on Medicare. Bang. Single Payer, take the tax through
payroll, twiddle the tax rate 1%, done.
They owned the House and Senate for two years. Why didn’t it happen?
Oh silly me, because it was more about control than about helping poor people get coverage!
I love your fantasy world, DN Guy.
“They owned the House and Senate for two years. Why didn’t it happen?”
Obama cut a deal with the insurance companies. He guaranteed them
400 million future customers, in return for 100 million in contributions
to the DNC and his PAC.
Obama had a couple of choices 1) Do Nothing, 2) Expand Medicare, Medicaid 3) Create a single non-profit insurance company (think Blue Cross as a monopoly) 4) Do Romneycarex50 . The 4th option let him collect some decent sized contributions. So he took a split between 2 and 4.
That option while seeding his war chest for 2012, alienated Dems, and enraged rightists.