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ObamaCare Repeal: Pro
ObamaCare Rats Deserting Sinking Ship?
By Wesley J. Smith
Editor’s note.
This appears on Wesley’s terrific blog at
http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2011/03/23/obamacare-repeal-pro-o-care-rats-deserting-sinking-ship/
 When
the debacle called the Affordable Care Act–better known
as Obamacare–was jammed down the collective throat in
the most corrupt and dishonest legislative action I have
ever seen–after the pro side lost the political debate
in the country–supporters were self satisfied. Just give
it time, they told the country. We’ll educate the people
about the law and it will be our ticket to political
success.
Wrong. Obamacare
was a very big factor in the Democratic rout in 2010.
And today, despite the law being in effect for a year,
Obamacare has remained about the same in terms of
popularity–with 59% opposed to the law. Meanwhile, the
Gallup Poll is showing negative movement in public
attitudes toward the law, with 46% saying it’s a “good
thing” Obamacare passed and 44% saying it is a bad
thing–as compared to 49-40 a year ago. And now, more
people think Obamacare will make things worse than
better, in contrast to one year ago when it was the
other way around. And I note, this is before the worst
parts of the law have gone into effect and have required
the tactic of mass exemptions to prevent harm from the
law being made clear before the 2012 election.
Meanwhile, the
A-List BIG NAME sales force that was supposed to turn
the public tide in favor of Obamacare has apparently
become a coalition of the unwilling. From the story in
Politico:
Democrats are
under siege as they mark the first anniversary of health
care reform Wednesday — and they won’t get much help
from the star-studded, $125 million support group they
were once promised. Wal-Mart Watch founder Andrew
Grossman unveiled the Health Information Campaign with
great fanfare last June. Tom Daschle and Ted Kennedy’s
widow, Vicki, were expected to lead the effort. They’d
have help from former White House Communications
Director Anita Dunn. They’d have an office in Washington
with 10 or 15 operatives backing the Affordable Care Act
and those who supported it. And they’d have money to
spend: Grossman hoped for $25 million a year for five
years.
But nine months
later, the Health Information Campaign has all but
disappeared. Its website hasn’t been updated since the
end of last year. Its executive director and
communications director are gone. There’s no sign that
it has any money. And neither Daschle nor Dunn will
return calls asking about it. Grossman laid out the
plans for the campaign in an interview with POLITICO in
June, saying the group hoped to add corporate
representatives to its board and then win people over by
speaking to them with “respect.”
“The law is in
effect, and the best thing we can do now is explain it,”
Grossman said then. But asked this week about the Health
Information Campaign, Grossman declined to talk on the
record.
That could be
because the law is a disastrous mess and the luminaries
are unwilling to stake their reputations on trying to
sell it. In fact, former O-Care supporters–such as the
CEO of Starbucks–have turned against it because it will
hurt small business.
When I was
practicing trial law, we used to chuckle about the old
adage: If you don’t have the facts, argue the law, if
you don’t have the facts or law–blow smoke. Obamacare,
apparently, can’t even support concerted smoke blowing
by those who were supposed to turn the public tide.
Part Two
Part Three |
