After watching HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testify before congress today I realized that the whole Affordable Care Act is hurting both Republicans and Democrats, and this is why.
First and foremost, the GOP is so against an “Obamacare” success that they will do anything to attack and derail the plan even though it is already law. They grilled Sebelius today over and over again with mostly anecdotal evidence in an attempt to frighten American’s with myths of “Big Government.” And these scare tactics turn-off the political independents even though it appeals to the blood-thirsty GOP faithful.
Secondly, the Democrats and Obama need to admit what a “debacle” this whole enrollment process and plan cancellation has been. They need to tell what they knew, when they knew, and who knew it. And, especially, Obama, Carney, and Sebelius need to ask for political forgiveness for stating that anyone who wanted to keep their current insurance coverage plan could.
And lastly, watching this hearing today showed me how dysfunctional the Capitol is at the moment. The two sides are far to involved with sniping and playing a win/lose game. The hearing was inconsequential at times because the same issues were covered over and over again by congress members, from both sides of the aisle, in an effort to score points on the record. Hardly anything was accomplished. Also, after watching the news coverage afterwards, on CNN. the supposedly-great-and-impartial Wolf Blitzer was just replaying soundbite after soundbite of emotional exchanges instead of reporting the real meat of the subject.
Just make sure you watch the PBS News Hour tonight for some decent media coverage of the hearing
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