Opinion: Obama full of rhetoric
By Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post
The Obamacare website doesn’t work. Hundreds of thousands of insured Americans are seeing their plans summarily terminated. Millions more face the same prospect next year. Confronted with a crisis of governance, how does President Obama respond?
He campaigns.
“I’ve got one more campaign in me,” he told grass-roots supporters — a series of speeches and rallies, explains the New York Times, “to make sure his signature health care law works.”
Charles Krauthammer
Campaigning to make something work? How does that work? Presidential sweet-talk persuades the nonfunctional Web portal to function?
This odd belief that rhetoric trumps reality leads to strange scenes. Like the ShamWow pitch, Obama’s nationally televised address trying to resell Obamacare. Don’t worry about the website, he said. I’ll get it fixed. And besides, there are alternatives, such as an 800 number he promptly gave out. Twice.
You half expected him to offer a ShamWow special: Add the mop and get a free year of Obamacare! But the 800 number was more than bad form. It was bad substance. Turns out you can give all the information you want to the person at the other end of the line — or to your friendly community “navigator” — but that person must enter your data into the very same nonfunctioning website.