Sebelius steps down
Predictably, the articles about Kathleen Sebelius’ resignation vary depending on the politics of the author. Either she stepped down in shame or in triumph, the right saying the former and the left the latter for the most part (except, surprisingly, for Rachel Maddow and the NY Times).
Whatever their interpretation or spin on the subject, most people seem to have been surprised by it. I hadn’t thought much about it one way or the other, so I can’t say whether I was surprised or unsurprised. But I have long felt that it must have been incredibly hard for Sebelius to try to defend Obamacare or her part in it since the disastrous rollout last October. Sebelius’ public appearances have seemed like an exercise in public humiliation and obvious mendacity, which can’t be easy for anyone to go through except a psychopath.
We’ll probably never know what really happened, or exactly and precisely why. My guess is that (unless she is a psychopath) Sebelius is exhausted by the strain of it all, and now that she’s stayed the course to March 31 she wants out.
As Ben Domenech points out, her successor will probably face some strain, too, from Republicans—in the outside chance that they’re smart enough to exploit the situation:
In any case, it appears that this resignation presents Republicans with a golden opportunity to reignite their crusade against Obamacare with Sylvia Burwell’s nomination as a proxy for all the problems with the law. Burwell is a political loyalist and a veteran of the shutdown fight with no record on health care, and will likely be coached to avoid answering questions about specific challenges with implementation at HHS. Senate Republicans actually have an advantage here in the wake of the Nuclear Option’s implementation: they can easily come up with a list of facts they claim the administration has hidden, details kicked aside, statutes ignored, and a host of other challenging questions on accountability over the implementation (and non-implementation) of the law. A list of every question Sebelius has dodged over the past several years would suffice. By demanding answers before the HHS nomination moves forward and refusing to rubber stamp the president’s pick, Republicans could force more vulnerable Democrats to take a vote that ties them both to the Nuclear Option and Obamacare six months before a critical election.
I’m not at all sure the American people in general—rather than just political junkies—notice things like that. My reading of Sebelius’ resignation is just a gut feeling; I certainly have no inside info. As for Obama’s opinions on the matter, Sebelius was never really one of his trusted insiders (that list is a short one, with Valerie Jarrett, his wife Michelle, and Eric Holder heading it) and so he can take her or leave her. He probably feels even better about Sylvia Burwell at this point than he did about Sebelius, and he’s weathered much bigger Obamacare storms than her departure.
Arguing for the idea that Obama may have forced her out is the fact that (at least as I understand things) now that the filibuster is gone for executive appointees, a simple majority can confirm Burwell’s nomination. And, since the Democrats have that majority right now and I don’t think Burwell’s past contain any dealbreakers for Democrats in the Senate, I expect her to be confirmed. Obama may be afraid that after 2014, if the Republicans take control, that won’t be so easy to do. So better now than later.
http://right-reason.com/2014/03/27/trevor-loudon-our-allies-are-freaking-out-2/
In other news, a speech people here might wish to see.
Is there any currency to the idea that Sebelius went, at least in part, so that the President could put up a nominee who would incite questioning that would allow the Democrats to blow a lot of “War On Women!!!eleventy” smoke?
Funny how having been president of the Walmart Foundation didn’t hurt Sylvia Burwell’s chances in being confirmed for the position of OMB director, and probably won’t for this new job. Now if she were a Republican…
@Ann,
Does WalMart take money from the Kochs? If so, Burwell is *obviously* compromised and should be hounded about it.
“Sebelius’ public appearances have seemed like an exercise in public humiliation and obvious mendacity, which can’t be easy for anyone to go through except a psychopath.”
The mendacity was obvious; the humiliation, not so much. She was far from the Nixon v. Rather egregious media assault. Being POTUS and spoken to by Rather in his way, now that is humiliating. (Of course, today the Left wants us all to respect the office. Today.)
I tend to shy from psychologic/psychiatric diagnoses and labels such as psychopath. They lend themselves to definitional debate; my “psychopath” may not be Neo’s. I prefer common English tags such as “Liar” and “Corrupt” and “Evil”. In Sebelius’s case, she was a liar and a worm, and she will not change out of office. What were the Kansans thinking? Do they think?
Tesh asks:
@Ann,
Does WalMart take money from the Kochs?
What an odd question. Why would the Kochs put $ into the Walmart Foundation?
I have not looked, but rather suspect the Walmart Foundation is being taken over from the inside by the Left, like Ford Foundation was, long ago. How to grow a cancer: start off with one malign cell in a sheltered environment.
I only brought up the Walmart connection because it, like the Koch brothers, is a favorite punching bag of the left.
It’s not a serious question, guys. Just playing the “six degrees of blame” connections game that the leftists play. *shrug*
Whatever her reasons, she gets to leave without having suffered a minute to minute campaign of degradation had her ineptitude been in service to the other party.
Ann
I only brought up the Walmart connection because it, like the Koch brothers, is a favorite punching bag of the left.
While Wal-Mart IS “a favorite punching bag of the left,” the anointed one, a.k.a. Hillary Clinton, has served on the board of Wal-Mart.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_clinton
I suspect she decided to flee the sinking ship once the enrollment period ended. It is amusing that Sebelius forgot to bring the last page of her statement to the press conference. No wonder obamacare is such a bureaucratic disaster.
@ Don Carlos: the Kansans I know (I grew up there) consider Sebelius a carpetbagger. There may have been enough of them to elect her governor at one point, but she’s never been of, for, or about Kansas.
My take: Barry has been hunting for months to find a replacement that could withstand the nomination process.
The 2014 election cycle has begun.
“The timing is all.”
And of the vixen of the hour:
“O most pernicious woman!
O villain, villain, smiling, damn’d villain!”
“You speak like a green girl,
Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.”
“Foul deeds will rise,
Though all the earth o’erwhelm them, to men’s eyes. “
Burwell might catch a ration for the partisan managment of the shutdown.
Burwell will sail through the confirmation hearings. She is perceived as a smart, competent, discreet technocrat who has punched all the right tickets: Harvard, Rhodes, McKinsey, Gates Foundation, and OMB. She is a former protege of Bob Rubin. Walmart will help, not hurt her credibility (the Left can sputter all it wants). The Dems see her as a loyal Clintonista (which she assuredly is) and the right sees her as sensible. In sum, too well-connected and credentialed to be denied.
That is not to say she will be a good HHS secretary. I worry that she is nothing more than a product of her environment, a thoroughly doctrinaire liberal. I see no evidence whatsoever of any independent thought or penetrating insights.
I happen to have known her before she (formally) entered politics.