Mr. President, I Have News for You
President Obama was moonlighting again last week as a self-appointed media critic-in-chief, this time during a Rose Garden appearance to boast about the progress of the Affordable Care Act. It was a curious performance on many levels, not the least of which was the way he used the vice president, his own cabinet, and the White House press corps as silent props while he unveiled his message of the month.
If the ladies and gentlemen of the press weren’t given a speaking role, they weren’t forgotten. At one point, he addressed them specifically, immodestly offering his own unsolicited definition of what constitutes “news.”
The president prefaced this digression by asserting that 7.1 million people had signed up for Obamacare, triggering historically lowinsurance premiums in the process, and proving his critics to be not only mistaken but malevolent. Resistance to the law is futile, he added, and Republicans seeking to repeal it and journalists who dare question it are to be shunned and shamed—condemned, as it were, to history’s trash heap.
“The debate over repealing this law is over,” he said. “The Affordable Care Act is here to stay.”
The president then read testimonials from everyday Americans who’ve written to the White House thanking him for the law. “That’s what the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, is all about,” he said. “This law is doing what it’s supposed to do. It’s working.”
Switching seamlessly from governing to campaign mode, the president then took aim at Obamacare’s critics. “I don’t get it,” he said. “Why are folks working so hard for people not to havehealth insurance ? Why are they so mad about the idea of folks having health insurance?”
Yes, healthinsurance premiums are rising, he conceded, but “those premiums have risen more slowly since the Affordable Care Act passed than at any time in the past 50 years.”
He thanked the pro-ACA groups, volunteers, and advertising execs who ran campaigns encouraging Americans tosign up for insurance (some of it subsidized), adding, “That’s why 7.1 million folks have health insurance—because people got the word out.”
To be sure, these are dubious claims – some would say absurd – but before the White House press corps could begin to fact-check the president, he launched a preemptive strike:
“I want to make sure everybody understands,” he said, looking at press row. “In the months, years ahead … there will be additional challenges to implementing this law. There will be days when the website stumbles, I guarantee it. So, press, I want you to anticipate: There will be some moment when the website is down, and I know it will be on all of your front pages. It’s going to happen. It won’t be news.”
Take a moment to digest that comment, and to consider its context. He’s saying that if www.healthcare.gov continues to have problems providing a service Americans are required by law to obtain, that’s not news. This might qualify as the most specious remark Obama has ever made as president.
As a student, Barack Obama attended Columbia University, which has a world-class journalism program. Unfortunately, he didn’t study journalism. After graduation, he attended another famed Ivy League institution, Harvard Law School, where he honed his skills as an advocate. So he is well-trained to engage in adversarial discourse, and he excels at it. As an appraiser of journalism, however, he has neither training nor the temperament. So let’s help him:
When a president campaigns for his sweeping new law while claiming repeatedly that it won’t impact those who already have health insurance—and this turns out to be utterly false—that is news.
When the same president repeatedly assures voters who already have insurance that they can keep their doctors—and wins re-election while stressing this fallacious claim—that is news.
When it turns out that the federal government, despite a three-year rollout, isn’t competent enough to provide the service it is making people purchase – yes, that is news. If it keeps happening in the future, sorry, Mr. President, that is news.
When the president states that 7.1 million Americans signed up via the government-run health care exchanges because of his own selfless efforts and those of his allies—but his administration claims it has no idea how many of those people enrolled because their private sector plans were canceled—that is news.
When respected third party organizations estimate that between two-thirds and three-fourths of those who bought the government plan did so because their previous plan was canceled due to the Affordable Care Act—that is also news.
Anecdotal evidence is cited by advocates on both sides of Obamacare, and when those anecdotes are true, they are certainly relevant to the conversation. So when the president relates the accounts of Americans who consider this law a godsend, that shouldn’t be taken lightly. But those testimonials flow both ways. Obama took no questions from the press in the Rose Garden, despite modern journalism being a two-way conversation. And one veteran White House correspondent, RealClearPolitics’ Alexis Simendinger, received a terse tweet in response to her story about the president’s event.
“Yet I’m one of those signups and I think the law is terrible,” it read. “Cancelled. Premium up. Deductible up. Lost access to doctor.”
And, yes, that is news, too.
If the ladies and gentlemen of the press weren’t given a speaking role, they weren’t forgotten. At one point, he addressed them specifically, immodestly offering his own unsolicited definition of what constitutes “news.”
The president prefaced this digression by asserting that 7.1 million people had signed up for Obamacare, triggering historically low
“The debate over repealing this law is over,” he said. “The Affordable Care Act is here to stay.”
The president then read testimonials from everyday Americans who’ve written to the White House thanking him for the law. “That’s what the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, is all about,” he said. “This law is doing what it’s supposed to do. It’s working.”
Switching seamlessly from governing to campaign mode, the president then took aim at Obamacare’s critics. “I don’t get it,” he said. “Why are folks working so hard for people not to have
Yes, health
He thanked the pro-ACA groups, volunteers, and advertising execs who ran campaigns encouraging Americans to
To be sure, these are dubious claims – some would say absurd – but before the White House press corps could begin to fact-check the president, he launched a preemptive strike:
“I want to make sure everybody understands,” he said, looking at press row. “In the months, years ahead … there will be additional challenges to implementing this law. There will be days when the website stumbles, I guarantee it. So, press, I want you to anticipate: There will be some moment when the website is down, and I know it will be on all of your front pages. It’s going to happen. It won’t be news.”
Take a moment to digest that comment, and to consider its context. He’s saying that if www.healthcare.gov continues to have problems providing a service Americans are required by law to obtain, that’s not news. This might qualify as the most specious remark Obama has ever made as president.
As a student, Barack Obama attended Columbia University, which has a world-class journalism program. Unfortunately, he didn’t study journalism. After graduation, he attended another famed Ivy League institution, Harvard Law School, where he honed his skills as an advocate. So he is well-trained to engage in adversarial discourse, and he excels at it. As an appraiser of journalism, however, he has neither training nor the temperament. So let’s help him:
When a president campaigns for his sweeping new law while claiming repeatedly that it won’t impact those who already have health insurance—and this turns out to be utterly false—that is news.
When the same president repeatedly assures voters who already have insurance that they can keep their doctors—and wins re-election while stressing this fallacious claim—that is news.
When it turns out that the federal government, despite a three-year rollout, isn’t competent enough to provide the service it is making people purchase – yes, that is news. If it keeps happening in the future, sorry, Mr. President, that is news.
When the president states that 7.1 million Americans signed up via the government-run health care exchanges because of his own selfless efforts and those of his allies—but his administration claims it has no idea how many of those people enrolled because their private sector plans were canceled—that is news.
When respected third party organizations estimate that between two-thirds and three-fourths of those who bought the government plan did so because their previous plan was canceled due to the Affordable Care Act—that is also news.
Anecdotal evidence is cited by advocates on both sides of Obamacare, and when those anecdotes are true, they are certainly relevant to the conversation. So when the president relates the accounts of Americans who consider this law a godsend, that shouldn’t be taken lightly. But those testimonials flow both ways. Obama took no questions from the press in the Rose Garden, despite modern journalism being a two-way conversation. And one veteran White House correspondent, RealClearPolitics’ Alexis Simendinger, received a terse tweet in response to her story about the president’s event.
“Yet I’m one of those signups and I think the law is terrible,” it read. “Cancelled. Premium up. Deductible up. Lost access to doctor.”
And, yes, that is news, too.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/04/06/mr_president_i_have_news_for_you_122181.html
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