Ok, I admit it. I’m writing a Whopper critique of a column in the Wall Street Journal – which is kind of like fishing in your bathtub. But I’m busy this week so excuse me for going after the low hanging fruit.
My target is Daniel Henninger’s article of March 26th which is titled, “Why Can’t the Left Govern?”
Obviously if Mr. Henninger is going to analyze why the left can’t govern, he first has to prove that it is in fact unable to govern. His proof of this grandiose accusation is that Barack Obama, New York’s progressive Mayor Bill de Blasio and France’s Socialist President Francois Hollande all currently have low poll numbers. Urgent message from the world of consistent logic to Henninger: Does the fact that President George Bush had awful poll numbers or the fact that Rick Scott, conservative Republican Governor of Florida, and John Kaisch, conservative Republican Governor of Ohio have bad poll numbers mean the Right can’t govern? In reality, low poll numbers by themselves do not prove an inability to govern, and low poll numbers is an experience endured by numerous elected officials from both sides of the aisle. Henninger’s claim is a truly pathetic whopper.
But he is not content with a single Whopper. He goes on.
In the same article, Henninger denounces ObamaCare as an act of “one-grand-scheme-fits-all compulsion that is out of synch with the individualization that technology lets people design into their lives today.” One wonders if Henninger has ever even glanced at the variety of options available to those seeking insurance under an Affordable Care Act Exchange. Not only are there multiple types of plans (bronze, silver, gold and platinum, and catastrophic coverage) there are also multiple insurance firms with different provider networks offering products within each type. The multitude of choices is one reason why outreach and enrollment in the program has been so difficult. Indeed, the Medicaid expansion parts of ObamaCare, which in each state really are similar to one plan for all, have experienced much fewer enrollment challenges.
One might add that there are in American politics proposals for rigid and inflexible mandates that accept no level of “individualization” whatsoever – such as demands that abortion be prohibited even in cases of rape, incest or medical necessity. Somehow, Mr. Henninger misses those, presumably because they fail to demonstrate that political flaws are uniquely characteristics of people who do not share his ideological preferences.
Bob Brownstein is Director of Policy and Research for Working Partnerships USA.
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