Ah, it wouldn't be a weekend without a report on a Democrat, a blue dog one at that, without bashing a Democratic priority and historic program on Republican terms on a Sunday talk show. Sometimes you have to wonder why exactly there is an opposition party to Democratic principles when we do such a great job of doing it ourselves.
Today's edition Sen. Joe Manchin (D-R-WV) was asked on CNN about the Affordable Care Act and answered with this;
"If it's so much more expensive than what we anticipated and if the coverage is not as good as what we had, you've got a complete meltdown at that time."
Before I go even further into what he says, let's breakdown the quote up above. Using the word "if" in politics is not only a dangerous thing to say but a stupid thing to say. IF John Boehner decided to bring the Senate immigration reform bill to the floor it would pass and we'd have comprehensive immigration reform. IF Joe Manchin receives a general election opponent worth anything, he'll lose. Discussing policies in 'if's' and 'but's' is not a real debate, it's you thinking poitics out loud. IF those problems arise, work to fix them.
Let's continue on with Senator Joe from the great state of West Virginia. He continues on to say:
"It needs to turn around. I'm not going to say that I think we will lose it (the Senate). It's going to be extremely challenging. We have some very good people who are truly there, I believe, for the right reason. They're going to be challenged for the wrong reason"
Ahhh, that's the sound of victory from a member of the majority party if I've ever heard it. I'm aware of the problems that the WEBSITE encountered in the first month but not the law. The law itself has worked as well as it was supposed to for the most part with a few hiccups. However, the website has been fixed and we are on a pace of signing up over 21,000 people a day for both private insurance and medicaid. Pretty impressive numbers if you ask me, and not exactly the political liability these defeatist Democratcs insinuate.
Democrats have an opportunity to turn the message around by highlighting the laws benefits, which are many. Democrats have an opportunity to tout the millions of people who will have signed up by the time the 2014 midterm elections roll around. Democrats have an opportunity to push that the government can help where it's needed, something that's been sort of an anathema in campaigns.
We truly have an opportunity to show that government CAN and DOES work when there are leaders who are competent and dedicated to actually making it work. When Democrats like Manchin have these moments of supposed candor he hurts the party and sometimes you have to wonder, is it on purpose? The problem with Democratic pols like Manchin is that they still believe in post partisan politics in this era. Perhaps in the next era it won't be so prevalent but in this era it is. By being naive and believing in post partisan politics he believes that if he runs from it now he somewhat has hedged his bets against success.
But Sorry Joe, but come 2016, if the ACA doesn't work (which it will) then you will be voted out of office. There is still unlimited room on the bandwagon, feel free to jump on, but if you don't...Well, passing unemployment insurance may be in your best interest.