Obama thought attacking Romney/Ryan on Medicare was a winner…
…but it turned out maybe not so much.
Here’s more on how that came to be.
Author Mark Mackinnon writes:
…[A]ll of this could have been avoided had President Obama simply led and acted on the 2010 Simpson-Bowles plan.
Simply? Simply? Hardly; Obama was never going to do something so relatively reasonable and so at odds with his agenda.
Seven decades of cultural programming about “compassion” give the lefties a huge edge in this kind of subjective assessment. Obama can point to Obamacare and say, “See, I care about you. Trust me.” He could even mock Ryan’s strengths, “Do you want to put your health and your life in the hands of Wall Street and the guys in the green eyeshades? How did that work when you trusted them with your job?”
Facts be damned.
You make a great point, foxmarks. That’s how it will be for a lot of voters. But I’m hopeful that the Ryan pick will mean we’ll see a lot more of Romney and Ryan going on offense on budgetary and spending matters, and maybe even doing more to educate the voters about the meaning of the debt in the manner of Ross Perot 20 years ago. That may do a lot to chip away at the Democrats’ credibility on most issues of governance.
“compassion” of the kind you mean is based solely on how it makes the compassionater feel. Intent is all, results be damned.
In fact, shown contrary and catastrophic results, the response will be oozing tear ducts and accusations of lack of compassion.
Was the retaking of the House in 2010 about “compassion”? Will 2012 be about “compassion”? For too long the left, via the MSM, has been allowed to frame the argument and direct the conversation. GWB was the “compassionate conservative” and never vetoed a single spending bill that came across his desk. How did that work out? Not so well as I recall; he was labeled as stupid, evil, and the Chimp Hilter.
As Richard Aubrey notes, the dialogue about “compassion” is a false, manufactured discourse. Its time for R&R to change the dialogue.
Lead Romney/Paul Lead.
I sat in the room getting my car maintained today and CNN was on. They were playing Obama in New Hampshire.
bleh.
What divisiveness and total lack of understanding of Econ 101.
We are where we are now by 100 factors. Nobody is saying it’s all Obama’s fault.
However, Obama CERTAINLY ISN’T making it better. With the impending Obamacare (unaffordable care act) law over every employers head people will continue to struggle.
With S corporations (that is individual filers for liberals out there) they know that their income will be taken to the tune of thousands MORE if the tax cuts expire so they continue to hunker down.
With the EPA out there creating havoc on all kinds of fronts we have businesses trying to lay low and hope for the best.
With the Gibson guitar raids and the uncertainty everywhere how can anybody really know how to succeed in business and even think about hiring anybody with the Democrat Senate and the man who has done nothing in life – Obama in office.
As a Medicare recipient for lo these many years. (14) I have known almost from the beginning that the program was doomed. For about eight years we had to pay a copay just to see a doctor (About $10 or $15) and the first $300 of medical costs. Then suddenly the copay requirement ended and we only had to pay the first $300. For the last four years we’ve paid neither copay or anything else. But we get statements. The statements show the provider’s requested payment and the amount Medicare actually paid. The percentage of payment has been going down every year. Now it’s around 50% (sometimes much lower) on average. I have been asking, “Why do the doctors continue to see Medicare patients when it is such a losing proposition?” The rate of doctors starting to refuse Medicare patients answers that question.
Add to that the IPABs. I’ve passed the normal life expectancy for males in our society. My guess is that should I need an expensive treatment that can prolong my life by a few years, Medicare won’t pay for it. It does make me wish I had taken better care of myself or that Medicare was really a fantastic insurance program – kinda like the one Congress has.
IMO, Medicare and the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) of 1986 have been big drivers in the skyrocketing costs of medical care. Providers and insurance companies have had to engage in a dance of cost-shifting, padding of bills, and over treatment to make up the losses from EMTALA and Medicare. There is no simple or painless way to change this convoluted system. At least Ryan’s plan gives some hope of change.
J.J.: You echo Karl Denninger on the drivers of cost. KD says that Ryan misses the point by merely trying to make a failed system a smidgen more efficient.
Kurt: I don’t think R&R understand the problem of debt and leverage. They talk only about FedGov debt, when the fat part of the snake is all the private and financial debt. But, if they get ordinary people interested even with partial understanding, that helps.
JJ:
Your analysis is correct. The Dem solution to docs opting out of Medicare will be simple-there will no longer be an opt-out; we must ALL take Mcare patients. There are however many vertically integrated healthcare systems wherein docs are employees and will be told what to do, opt-out not an option.
More than 50% of new MDs are now NOT going into private practice. Plastic surgery is the hardest training program to get into. Why? Cash for cosmesis, that’s why.
foxmarks misses the boat. R+R is a first step, one of many that are needed. Remember Mao’s journey remark, fox. I just love your superior grip on debt and leverage compared to R+R. You are obviously serving below your abilities.
foxmark’s math is right, these social welfare systems can no be sustained in their present form. They are doomed to failure without massive reform. The question is how do we get those who covent to accept drastic reform.
foxmarks said “Obama can point to Obamacare and say, “See, I care about you. Trust me.” ”
And we can point to the CBO and say “B. S.!”