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| Democrats have second thoughts about Obamacare |
| 2015-01-11 |
[WEEKLYSTANDARD] In the Time magazine issue published after the 2008 electionwhose cover depicted Barack ObamaIf I had a son he'd look like Trayvon... as Franklin RooseveltPeter Beinart anticipated a new era of liberal hegemony that would last until Sasha and Malia have kids. President B.O. is not yet a grandfather, but his era of liberal hegemony only appears to have lasted months, not decades. Photoshopping gave Obama the pince-nez and cigarette holder that were FDRs trademarks but could not conjure the startling congressional majorities of the 1930s. The Depression and New Deal left Republicans discredited, irrelevant, and shattered. GOP House and Senate majorities of 62 percent and 58 percent, respectively, after the 1928 election shrank to caucuses of 20 percent and 17 percent after 1936. Under Obama the trajectory has been the opposite: Republicans have gone from 41 percent of the House seats after the 2008 election to 57 percent after 2014 and from 40 senators to 54. Inevitably, Democrats are trying to figure out why the present that dismays them is so much less congenial than the future they recently anticipated. Some have begun to disparage Obamacare ... aka the Affordable Care Act, an ineptly designed and worse executed piece of legislation designed to bring 17 percent of the U.S. economy under the direct control of the government. The previous iteration, known as Hillarycare, was laughed out of Washington. This stinker was passed on a party-line vote without being read... , the incumbents most FDR-like achievement. Half of the 60 Democratic senators who voted for the Affordable Care Act in December 2009the exact number needed to prevent its being filibustered to death, since all Republicans opposed itare no longer in the Senate. These ex-senators include eight who were defeated by Republicans, and eight more who chose not to run again and were succeeded by Republicans. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #8 #6 It's all about show. When it comes time to vote, the minions will still support massive centralized government no matter how inefficient or corrupt. #7 Tame Republicans keep running interference for the Dems. Dems are never accountable. They just go into remission. ^ These. The Dems are happy to take the hit so long as the policy is now in place. And the ones who lost their offices will get succor from the Establishment to make the hurting go away. Meanwhile, the Boehner-McConnell axis will simply consolidate most of the Dem's gains for them, much as the immediate post-New Deal GOP did in the Fifties. |
| Posted by: charger 2015-01-11 13:15 |
| #7 Tame Republicans keep running interference for the Dems. Dems are never accountable. They just go into remission. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2015-01-11 10:39 |
| #6 It's all about show. When it comes time to vote, the minions will still support massive centralized government no matter how inefficient or corrupt. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2015-01-11 09:41 |
| #5 Not just health care policy but the value and political feasibility of modern liberalism’s raison d’être is at stake. The main point of Schumer’s recent speech was “Democrats must embrace government” as “what we believe in,” “what unites our party,” and as “the only thing that’s going to get the middle class going again.” He thought that Obamacare was regrettable to the extent it had complicated rather than furthered that fundamental purpose. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2015-01-11 09:19 |
| #4 OldSpook, you beat me to it. They never thought about Obolacare the first time around. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2015-01-11 03:34 |
| #3 Second thoughts? How the hell did they do that when they haven't even thought about it the FIRST time yet? |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2015-01-11 01:44 |
| #2 Oxymoronic (emphasis on moronic)! |
| Posted by: Raj 2015-01-11 01:23 |
| #1 Thinking democrats ? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2015-01-11 01:10 |