Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Where Are The Republicans?

News today of yet another "campaign style" undertaking from the White House designed to convince America of the goodness of Obamacare.  Every day until the 23rd of December, some kind of singular messaging emphasis will emanate from the White House through its friends in the Bought and Paid For Media to the waiting ears of an American public who has apparently not yet been lied to enough. 

Apparently, lefty commentators have been ramping up the din that the Obamacare website is beginning to work, gleefully predicting a wave of support from the public when they are finally able to grab hold of the brass ring of Affordable Care through the flow orifice that is the website.  Yet the website was never THE PROBLEM with Obamacare; it was really just a problem of corporatism run amok with sweetheart contracting, ridiculous timelines and insufficient specification.  No, the problem with Obamacare is Obamacare.  And I need to hear Republicans saying it over, and over, and over again.

Let's face it.  Many of the "uninsured" were uninsured by choice.  They looked at what was available on the individual healthcare market and determined that it was economically unwise to buy insurance given their financial state.  Now, the decision is made for them.  They will have to get insurance.  Whatever they were paying for their healthcare before will increase--as they will now have to buy actual insurance or pay their fine.  If they choose the fine, they still have to pay full price for whatever care they receive at the point of sale.  These folks will now have to go online to the apparently working better site, in order to do what they deemed economically unwise to do last year, now at the point of a government gun (metaphor alert). 

Next are the folks who already HAD individual policies, the ones we've heard so much about, the one's whose policies have been cancelled (or not subject to renewal) because they are "noncompliant" with the standards of the ACA.  We have been hearing some of their stories.  They liked their old coverage.  They can't understand why they need maternity or mental health coverage.  They don't like the premiums, or the deductibles, or the premiums and the deductibles. 

Next year, we will see a wave of unhappiness that makes this year's individual market stories look like a pittance by comparison. This is when employer based plans begin to drop people because 1) it is cheaper to drop them (and pay a penalty) and send them to the exchanges 2) the plans are non-compliant and will therefore be more expensive.  In either case  many more millions will find that their premiums and or deductibles have increased, and their choice of doctors has disappeared. 

All of this sets the stage for Republicans to capitalize; not only by continuing to pound home the fact that this monster was created by Democrat Dr. Frankensteins (only), but also by coming forward with a series of legislative proposals that are conservative and market based that help make things better.  It will not be sufficient to simply sit back and watch the house burn.  Republicans will pay a devastating price if they are seen to be playing this game.  No matter how many times the Senate fails to vote on House Republican measures, they should continue to vote for them.  The American public needs to see Republicans TRYING TO SOLVE PROBLEMS in order to trust that they CAN solve problems.  We cannot simply repeal Obamacare--we must replace it with something better. 

But this is not what is happening.  What is happening is the legislative calendar, wherein our House Republicans scooted out of town for an extensive Thanksgiving break, followed by a scant few legislative days, followed by an extensive Christmas break.  All  momentum is being lost, and the vacant playing field is being occupied by the President as amplified through his media.  The plain truth of the matter is that whatever Republican leadership there is in this country has to stop acting like a run-of-the-mill Congressman and more like a leader.  They need to stay in Washington, where the press is, and where the action is.  This is where the battle is being fought and right now, there is only one Army in the field--the President's.  The RNC has got to get WHITE HOT in supporting leadership with a countercampaign that shows Americans EVERY SINGLE DAY what a mess Obamacare is.  Not the website.  The program. 

This is an existential moment for the Republican Party.  If we seize it, we can increase margins in the House and even take the Senate.  Every day that Mr. Obama squirms on his own petard is a day that plays to the advantage of Republicans in 2016.  But we are blowing this.  We are blowing this by not being active, and by not relentlessly pursuing better ideas. 

2 comments:

Mudge said...

Whatever we do we should not dirty our hands with trying to make O-care work. Some like McCain and Graham appear to be stumbling around with leading media questions leaving the impression that they will help work to improve it.

Also, turning to the GoP leadership to fight this is folly. They had the chance to defund it and put a nail in its coffin but they turned tail and ran away from their compatriots who were actually fighting for what we sent them to Washington to fight for. I am actually more furious with those in the Senate who voted for cloture THEN voted against funding O-care knowing full well that their cloture vote was a certain vote for funding O-care. They must think we are a particularly stupid lot, we GoP voters. I think they will learn that enough people actually were paying attention once primaries come around. No CW, what we need from GoP leadership is some testosterone-based courage to re-moor our society to the Constitution no matter what. The kind of courage that floods the flight half of "fight or flight" and causes them to dig in to win at all costs. You'd have better success getting milk out of a mare mule than finding that level of testosterone in the current GoP leadership.

It reminds me of the US under various presidents of both parties when AQ was attacking us every other year and we failed to acknowledge that we were in a global war. We are in a real, no kidding fight for the future of the nation and our politicians are treating it like some gentlemanly debate. Frankly, I'd take someone like Barnie Frank on our side over the leadership we currently have. At least he knew what it meant to fight at all costs.

"The Hammer" said...

If MY wing of the party ran the show we'd be laying waste to the Obamabots as we speak! Our enemy isn't the liberals so much as the establishment Republicans. Obamacare and it's absolutely friggin' insanely incompetent rollout is the most fertile ground for making hay since Octomom and the Republicans refuse REFUSE to take advantage. We need a Huey Long, a George Wallace, a Fidel Castro, some sort of populist hellraiser willing to kick Obama and his lapdog media in the ass. But all we have are Eric Canter "teacher's pet" types and guys who seem half drunk who'll cry at the first mention of their modest upbringing: "Man I gotta tell you I love this country, I love being Speaker and I love you...barkeep, let's have another round of Jack Black".
I'm sick of this bullshit! I'm moving to God damn Venezuela. At least down there they got some balls!

Newer Post Older Post Home