Well, it played out as predicted. It would have been more interesting if the pundits hadn’t been crying “the sky is falling” every 5 minutes for 16 days. In the beginning, the only real question was who was going to be the hero. The answer came from an expected source…..Mitch McConnell.
It was in Mitch McConnell’s best political future to step up and lead….and he did. But Mitch McConnell won’t be the next GOP POTUS nomination. In fact, none of the Congressional GOP will be the next GOP nominee. The fact is that every one of the leading contenders voted against paying our bills and reopening the government. So, those like John Cornyn who have to run in 2014 will be haunted by that vote because even in Texas, the shutdown tactics were not supported.
That means that the next GOP nominee will come from outside Washington which puts Chris Christie and Jeb Bush as leading contenders. Did you notice that Hillary Clinton stayed out of this shutdown fiasco?
Also a correction from my last diary: Apparently the final bill did not change the income verification process already in place. It basically has to do with IRS reports to Congress or something really inane that makes no difference to sign up process. Big win for President and American people.
Heard that 9 million people have visited healthcare.gov in the past 17 days but only 36000 enrollments. And an 88% drop in traffic. As someone who has created an account, and is about to enroll, I have an interesting perspective. I went to the site in the beginning and it wasn’t working. So I waited two weeks before trying again. After all we have 6 months to get in and enroll, right? So why make a bad situation even worse? I’m happy to report that the website is now working even though it is still REALLY slow. REALLY SLOW! And sometimes, you are not sure whether it is actually doing anything. But it is working and most of the bugs appear to have been fixed. Not all the bugs by far but it is useable. Also, hopefully the pundits have decided to stop visiting the site. I’m willing to bet 8 million of the 9 million attempts to access the site came from pundits and other people who were not even going to enroll. Well maybe only 7 million LOL
Here’s a hint that will help any of you planning to create an account. When you create an account, you have to wait and get your verification email for verification purposes. Your account will not work until that has happened. If you try to create another account, you will cause problems. If you try to access your account before it has been verified, it will give you an error message. So sign up and wait for the email. Might as well get used to waiting because it will probably be awhile before the system is 100% bug free (All of my immediate family members are programmers so I understand these issues) and did I mention how SLOW it was?
However, this entire effort by the GOP was just as Ted Cruz said in the beginning -- an attempt to keep the public from falling in love with Affordable Health Care Act. And I predict by the time the new deadlines come around, the majority of America will be in love. Look nobody likes for government to tell them they have to do something. Hell, there are still people who want to dissolve our tax system and pay no taxes at all. But just as America fell in love with other programs GOP has opposed in the past, they will love the pricing at healthcare.gov ESPECIALLY SMALL BUSNIESSES. And as a self employed person, a small business person and someone who has essentially been priced out of the market for 30 years, this healthcare.gov is a lifesaver. So even though, there is not a lot of good things being said about it NOW, it will get better.
ONE NOTE: the administration needs to do a better job of explaining how the subsidies/tax credit work as not everyone has access to a tax accountant to explain. (Actually even the tax accountant has to ask the IRS). Making the wrong decision on this could lead to a large tax bill the following year which most poor people can’t afford. So it would really be good if the administration started explaining.
As for the tea party, don’t look for them to make any gains next year UNLESS the Dems give away the farm in entitlements next year. People from all sides of the political spectrum are energized against these crazy and destructive people. They have PO’d a helluva lot of people and NOTHING translates into votes like angry PO’d voters. In fact, don’t be surprised to see a higher than usual turnout next year against the tea party and the GOP overall. All any Dem contender has to do is run commercials again and again and again that this person voted to shut down the government and voted NOT TO PAY THE BILLS THEY INCURRED. It’s the GOP tactics. Just keep saying it.
Now Entitlements should be the theme for the 2014 issue. If Dems define their plan for entitlements and do a good job of explaining the differences between their plan and the GOP plan, they can make their odds of winning next year EVEN GREATER!
But Dems should understand that any ENTITLEMENT CUTS in 2014 will literally MURDER their chances in 2014 so they should EXPECT that to be the next tactic to shut down government. Why? Because you can only cut the budget so far before it starts doing real damage and they understand that. Besides they have been trying to privatize entitlements for years. It’s the essence of Paul Ryan’s budget. It was part of GW Bush’s 2nd term goals, etc. In fact cutting entitlements makes GOP drool like treats make my dogs drool. So the Dems should be prepared to address the issue with a GOOD PLAN and a United front. And a GOOD plan is not one that mathematically messes with the benefit formula. A good plan has meat. But let that be the people’s decision at the 2014 election.
Lastly POTUS Obama has said he would listen to all ideas to improve the economy from all sides. So the time is now to discuss removing marijuana from the Controlled substance list. When John McCain says the time has come, when more seniors than children are smoking pot and when other countries around the world are following the lead in this area. There is money on the table and seniors don’t want to hear about cuts when there is money on the table.
The Dems have the momentum to get the ball rolling in the right direction. If they do and keep their forward momentum they can get rid of many of the crazies next year. But if they go back to more of the same of this past year, the crazies will return to do this again.