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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe right’s realization: websites can be fixed
Posted with permission.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/the-rights-realization-websites-are-fixable
The rights realization: websites can be fixed
10/25/13 10:55 AM
By Steve Benen
The political establishment has obviously been deeply invested this week in exploring the technical problems associated with the Affordable Care Acts website, and the glitches are now the core Republican message. But theres always been a serious flaw with the GOPs strategy.
For one thing, tech troubles dont reflect on the underlying merits of Obamacare itself. For another, as some in the party are starting to realize, website glitches, no matter how severe or systemic, can be fixed (via Greg Sargent).
I get the sense that GOP officials, feeling desperate after their partys standing went into free fall after their government shutdown, saw website glitches as a life-preserver. Dont ask too many questions, they said, just hold on before we sink even further.
But as the storm subsides, Republicans find themselves adrift with an unhelpful floatation device. Theyre not only attacking a health care law thats far more popular than they are, theyre also relying heavily on a problem with a finite end. Assuming the website issues can be resolved in a reasonable amount of time, GOP lawmakers will be left with the We still dont like it talking point, which the American mainstream probably wont find especially persuasive.
Whats more, if we take this one step further, the post-policy thesis comes into sharper focus. Republicans have no real intention of improving the health care system or helping consumers have greater access to affordable coverage. Indeed, there are no policy goals at play whatsoever. If you watched yesterdays hearing on Capitol Hill, you may have noticed there were no moments in which GOP lawmakers stopped complaining and started talking about actual substantive solutions.
Is it any wonder Republicans are privately concerned theyll be stuck after the website has been repaired?
And what does it say about a major party that its biggest hope right now is that an under-performing website will fail, preventing a policy success for tens of millions of people?
DonViejo
(60,536 posts)the equivalent to the old adage, "dawn breaks on distant mountain."
murielm99
(30,741 posts)In fact, they would still like to get rid of it.
Does anyone remember the Medicare rollout? Did it have problems? I can't imagine that it was trouble free.
I just signed up for Medicare in January. Someone called me back for a phone interview, and it went very smoothly. I went to a nearby senior center to get signed up for Medicare D. They showed me comparisons, and I picked the plan I wanted.
Does anyone remember the early days of Medicare?
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)Proof that government works.
TheKentuckian
(25,026 posts)counterproductive.
Faith in good governance is built by being accountable and fixing problems not by pretending problems don't exist. Some people are so fucking afraid of "Government is the problem" that they hinder government being a force for solutions.