Krugman: The Power of Incumbency, Health Care Edition

[ProSense]

The Power of Incumbency, Health Care Edition

President Obama is finally making a strong case for his own health reform, mocking Republicans for their obsession with denying insurance to 30 million Americans. It’s about time; and many of us still feel that he did a remarkably bad job of explaining the reform in the past.

Still, Brian Beutler has a good point here: the long delay in implementation made Obamacare hard to campaign on, because people had no experience of how it works in practice. Republicans could tell all kinds of lies, promulgate all kinds of misconceptions, and if the law’s defenders tried to refute these claims, well, who was telling the truth? Remember how Medicare was going to destroy American freedom?

But now the reality of Obamacare is just months away. It may have a rocky start, especially in red states where the local government is doing all it can to disrupt the implementation, but pretty soon many Americans will have first-hand knowledge of how the system really works. And if Massachusetts is any guide, they’re going to like it a lot.

Hence Obama’s new confidence and the desperation of the GOP.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/11/the-power-of-incumbency-health-care-edition/

Bottom line: Obamacare really is for the 99%
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023441345

[ProSense]

1. Kick! n/t

[pampango]

2. "... pretty soon many Americans will have first-hand knowledge of how the system really works. And

if Massachusetts is any guide, they’re going to like it a lot.

Hence Obama’s new confidence and the desperation of the GOP.

[sheshe2]

3. As a resident of Massachusetts,

I agree. They are going to like it a lot!

[Scurrilous]

4. K & R