Time to Move On

I was kind of tough on the President yesterday, and I feel just a little badly about it.  OK, not that badly.  It was a well-deserved salvo that was, hopefully, taken as constructive criticism (and believe me...  we KNOW that President Obama visited this blog...  right?).  But, it's time to move on.  Everyone from the President to Secretary Sebelius to the guy who's still waiting for that webpage to load realizes that the rollout of Obamacare was less than satisfactory.  Both the President and the Secretary of Health and Human Services have accepted full responsibility and are doing whatever is possible to remedy the situation.  So, where do we go from here?  Rather than piling on further accusations and blame, it might be more useful to focus on solutions...  The clock's ticking!

Perhaps one of my favorite moments during Kathleen Sebelius' testimony came today when Republican Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan, the panel's chairman, opened the session by saying news of Obamacare problems "seems to get worse by the day," and that "Americans are scared" and "may be losing their faith in the government."  For some reason his statement about scared Americans strikes me as a bit pathetic.  I doubt that many of my fellow countrymen are of such a lily-livered disposition.  Concerned?  Yes.  Scared?  We'll save that for tomorrow's visitations from small-framed ghouls and goblins, hepped up on sugar and demanding candy.

The most ironic part of Rep. Upton's statement, though, is the part about Americans losing faith in their government...  we MAY be losing faith?  Perhaps Mr. Upton would be well to remember that we are way past "may" and that the Republicans are in large part responsible for that dire situation.  When over 70% of the country feels that no member of Congress should be reelected, even when asked about their own representatives, lawmakers should be cleaning their own houses, not just looking for ways to shift blame.  
The President's real problems lie overseas, in my view.  The current issues surrounding the NSA are far more likely to cause long-term damage to the administration, although President Obama may be able to restore trust more effectively than we might think.  Obamacare?  Let's remember that, while it's been enacted, its effects won't really start to be seen until after coverage begins on January 1.  To hear those opposed to the Affordable Care Act talk, you'd think American's were dying in the streets because of the technical problems encountered so far.  What do we really need here?  We need patience.  If we can muster the necessary calm and serenity to spend Thanksgiving night, in the rain, waiting outside our local Big Lots in order to by a 48" big screen TV discounted by 20%, we can surely wait a little longer to sign up for our health care plans.

Just What DID the President Know?

There are few words that have raised more concern in the White House over the past forty years than, “What did the President know and when did he know it?” The Obama Administration isn't immune from the taint of these words as we are learning this week.

My politics run to the left of the President but I have been a vocal supporter of his from the start. However, in the interest of fairness and credibility, I think that it's important to recognize the faults and mistakes of those you admire. Sadly, the Obama White House has made it easy for critics over the last few days with disclosures of spying on foreign leaders, the indication that the President was unaware of the vast problems that would be encountered when Obamacare became a reality and the fact that many people would lose coverage despite specific and repeated promises to the contrary.

First, spying on your friends is never a good idea. They are bound to find out and when they do, well friendship takes a back seat in international politics. The results are magnified when the friends who are being spied upon are top leaders of our allies such as Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel. We seem primed for further revelations that others were similarly targeted, meaning that this scandal could have far-reaching implications. Further allegations that foreign citizens were also monitored at home have done nothing to improve the level of trust that has so diminished since the spike of hope that Obama's election caused worldwide. Appearing before Congress today, intelligence chiefs played down the gravity of the situation suggesting that, in terms of spying on foreign leaders, “everyone does it” - an excuse that hasn't held water with any American mother in centuries - and, in the case of foreign citizens that, “... this is a good thing! If the French knew what was going on, they would be glad! They should be popping champagne corks!” Somehow I wouldn't expect any cork-popping in the Elysee Palace tonight.

The second issue that begs the question of how deeply the President is involved in his signature health care program surrounds the huge problems encountered on the technical side. If, in fact, President Obama didn't know what was coming, it signals a woeful lack of stewardship. If he was aware, and simply hoped the problem would go away, we're faced with a similar problem. I fully understand that no president has control over everything that happens during their time in office and, certainly, no one can avoid all of the pitfalls of launching such an enormous undertaking. However, in light of the other issues that seem to have been kept from the President, well... Houston... We have a problem.

Finally, and this one bothers me most personally, the loss of coverage to many Americans despite President Obama's repeated promise that, “...if you like your health plan, you can keep it!”. Americans were promised that they would not be forced to leave their existing health plans. Instead, Obamacare is to provide access to those that wouldn't otherwise have it. Don't get me wrong, I still think that the Affordable Care Act is far more positive than not, but it bothers me that either the President didn't know about this, too, or that he skimmed over the facts in his pledges to the American people. Either way, that's not the Obama that I voted for. Why does this hit home for me? Because I have countered several friend's contentions that the Affordable Care Act would cause just this sort of thing. To me, it's all about credibility. Give me the straight story and I can deal with it. Try to make it more palatable by changing the facts? Well, ask my kids - it's time for a presidential time out.

No, I'm not turning against the President. Overall, I still support him and his initiatives. But, I can't help but be somewhat disillusioned. It's especially grating because, after the political firestorm that followed the recent government shut-down, he was in an especially good position to really make things happen. A waste of political capital which it will be hard, if not impossible, to get back.