Obama's Report Card Not Looking Too Good

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright November 25, 2013
All Rights Reserved.                                      

            Getting another bad poll, President Barack Obama got more bad news from CNN/ORC finding that 53% of the 843 U.S. adults surveyed see the president as untrustworthy.  While much Obama’s problems stem from his rocky health care overhaul known as Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act, his signature legislation signed into law March 21, 2010 has become Barack’s Achilles Heel.  Riding popularity ratings about 60% at the time of his election in 2008, a recent Gallup poll found the president’s approval ratings sinking to 41%.  Much of the bad news stems from the embarrassing rollout of healthcare.gov, the website designed to signup millions of uninsured Americans.  Fixing the website doesn’t begin to deal with fatal flaws in the ACA, giving too much power to insurance companies to hike prices.  With price hikes and cancellations, Obama’s polls have tumbled.

             When 52-year-old Caroline Kennedy, the only surviving child of President John F. Kennedy and currently ambassador to Japan, endorsed Obama June 21, 2008 at the Democratic National Convention, she talked about Barack’s charisma, similar to her late father.  Marking the 50-year anniversary of his assassination Nov. 22, 1963, Caroline hoped Obama would fulfill her father’s inspiration across party lines.  Before elected president, Barack talked of a post-partisan era, one witnessed when moderate Republicans and independents lined up behind JFK.  When the politically naïve Obama took the oath of office Jan. 20, 2009, no one anticipated the bitter partisanship to follow.  Before the ink could dry on the inauguration, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) already sealed Obama’s fate imposing a national health care agenda.

             Today’s divided government, symbolized by Reid’s Democratic Senate ending the long-standing filibuster rule Nov. 21 on presidential appointments, reflects Washington’s partisan gridlock.  Caroline didn’t endorse Obama in 2008 to watch the government become more dysfunctional under Obama than it was under Bush.  So the president’s so-called signature legislation, Obamacare, now, like Bush’s Iraq War, .becomes Barack’s downfall.  After trusting Reid and Pelosi, Obama finds his legacy in hot water.  Proving that no good deed goes unpunished, Obama’s well-intentioned plan to insure some 40 million uninsured citizens backfired.  Faced with millions of cancellations and few people signing up for Obamacare, the president faces some tough choices, including to make Obamacare optional for citizens unable to get health insurance any other way.

             When you look at the gravity of the problem, fixing healthcare.gov doesn’t change the basic flaw in Obamacare:  Running the program through the private insurance industry.  Without price controls, health insurers continue to hedge their bets hiking rates.  Insuring more folks was supposed to drive down costs, instead it boomeranged, forcing cancellations and rate hikes.  When Obama promised citizens they could keep their insurance and doctors in 2009 and 2010, he didn’t anticipate insurers canceling policies that didn’t comply with Obamacare’s 2014 guidelines requiring more costly benefits.  Instead of working toward a bipartisan agreement on health care, Barack opted to let Pelosi and Reid run the show.  Now that programs is approaching full implementation Jan 1, 2014, the White House is behind the eight-ball, watching Barack’s approval ratings head south.

             When you consider the cost v. the benefits, Obamacare was a loser from the get- go.  Instead leaving private insurance markets in tact and expanding care for the poor under Medicaid, Obama opted for full implementation of an untested private sector insurance program targeted for uninsured self-employed individuals.  Instead of imposing national health care on the Congress in 2009, Obama should have worked with Republicans to fashion legislation to prevent insurance companies for engaging in discriminatory practices against individuals with pre-existing medical conditions.  While it’s difficult to put the genie back in the bottle, it’s also possible to admit one’s mistake and do something about it.  Pretending that things will somehow work out doesn’t bode well for Democrats’ future.  If Obamacare doesn’t seem fixable, Democrats will have to swallow hard and cancel the program.

             CNN/ORC’s recent poll showed more than just Obama’s plunging approval ratings:  It showed that the public questions his leadership.  Whatever foreign policy successes, including ending U.S. involvement in Afghanistan in 2014 or the recent deal on Iranian nukes in Geneva, they won’t undo Barack’s ongoing health care nightmare.  White House officials must honestly assess the viability of Obamacare or risking handing the Oval Office back to Republicans in 2016.  Obama’s big mistake as a new president was allowing Pelosi and Reid to define his legacy on national health care.  No matter how zealous Democrats in 2008 when they controlled both houses of Congress, Obama shouldn’t have forced national health care on the country.  Major legislation needs bipartisan support to be successful.  Today’s blowback directly relates to Obama not following that principle.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.