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Midday Open Thread
- This New York Times article details the turmoil within the administration, the Democratic caucus, and the insurance industry over the last two months since the launching of healthcare.gov.
The story of how the administration confronted one of the most perilous moments in Mr. Obama’s presidency — drawn from documents and from interviews with dozens of administration officials, lawmakers, insurance executives and tech experts working inside the HealthCare.gov “war room” — reveals an insular White House that did not initially appreciate the magnitude of its self-inflicted wounds, and sought help from trusted insiders as it scrambled to protect Mr. Obama’s image.
- As bad as the rollout of the Obamacare website was, the fact that most Americans are optimistic that the problems will be fixed should send shivers down the spine of all those who oppose it.
The latest CNN/ORC International poll showed that 53 percent of Americans think it’s too early to characterize the health care law as a failure, while 54 percent expressed optimism that the problems currently plaguing Obamacare be resolved.
- Paul Krugman’s positive outlook on Obamacare going forward.
I suggested yesterday that we’re probably heading for a turning point in the health reform discussion. Conservatives are operating on the assumption that it’s an irredeemable disaster that they can ride all the way to 2016; but the facts on the ground are getting better by the day, and Obamacare will turn into a Benghazi-type affair where Republicans are screaming about a scandal nobody else cares about.
- It is the political movement of the disenfranchised most of us should be waiting to embrace.
Firebrand Congressman Alan Grayson hailed Black Friday civil disobedience in an afternoon interview, saying the protests by Wal-Mart workers and supporters show “the dissatisfaction of the middle class” since the 2008 financial crash “coming to a slow boil.” “If one person falls out of the middle class, that’s sad,” Grayson told Salon. “But if millions of people fall out of the middle class, that creates a backlash which is being seen all over the country, and will potentially create a new political movement of the disenfranchised.”
- The return of Liberalism. So it is New York City. Hey, this supposed Liberal city voted in a Republican/Independent for the last 0 years.
To observers as well as Democratic legislators, the last election marked a major change in New York City politics, with a new breed of highly liberal politicians ready to enact a series of progressive policies that would have been dead on arrival under Bloomberg or his predecessor Giuliani.
- Charlie Cook looks at President Obama’s poll from a numerical and statistical perspective. Ana Marie Cox views it from the gut. Charlie Cooks numbers validate Ana Marie Cox’s gut.
- Select tweets:
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