Ezra Klein, the ballyhoo'd wonk of wonks, is the prime example of the wonk who jumps the shark.
The partisan differences on education and infrastructure are smaller than they are on taxes and spending. As for health care, we’ve actually kept costs under control in recent years, we’ve already passed the Affordable Care Act, and we’re seeing movement among Republican governors to engage constructively with the law. All of which suggests that we’re entering a more productive period of implementation, reforming the reforms and building on ongoing trends — and we should focus on that.- Washington Should Be Worried About Education, Health Care and Infrastructure
Not sure if he is ignoring the data but Time magazine's Stephen Brill report on spiraling costs upward trajectory
despite insurance reform is breaking that silence.
Then just yesterday Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) comes out with a budget based primarily on repealing the Affordable Care Act.
We are crossing into a new era of so-called Wonks and pragmatists who have no clue about which they claim expertise in blogging on political issues. Ezra Klein is looking more and more like the partisan hack he maybe always was. A WAPO spinmeister attempting to play down and massage the emerging political/financial crisis upon us by building up the chimera of bipartisan reasonableness and elusive common ground that Centrism offers all Americans.
The first example of how unrealistic Klein and others are about common ground has to be on Education. If George W.'s foray into Federal tinkering with education (primarily the domain of state and local control) with No Child Left Behind and now Arnie Duncan's disastrous attempt at legitimizing further Federal intrusions into Home rule with Race to the Bottom, the best and most effective reform can only be to get Washington out of the classroom. That's where both parties can begin to find common ground, quit frittering away much need revenue and stop creating Rube Goldberg machines sucking the life out of teachers, administrators and classrooms.
First do no harm. And progressives and well as conservatives need to constantly review this lesson together.
So no, Ezra, there is no common ground with health care either as Ryan proved yesterday. You could possibly find common ground if progressives quit tinkering with private insurance mandates, repealed that part and lowered the medicare age but then that would be actual reform heading off costs (if this president allowed competitive group prescription bids).
We live in a new era of Technocrats pronouncing that politics is unworthy, and that solutions are within our grasp if only we could all be adults and accept that we are "reforming the reforms and building on ongoing trends". Well the reforms are in no case going to be reformed in any direction. The ACA is in fact a demilitarized zone for ideologues and won't be going ANYWHERE, either repealed or leapfrogged to that wonky promised land of private health care nirvana. And the trend lines? You must be kidding Ezra.