Obamacare anniversary: Two blind men describing an elephant

That’s what I thought of when I saw these competing comments as I was cleaning out email from when I was gone.

First, from Lindsey Graham:

Obamacare’s Five-Year Anniversary 

 

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today issued the following statement on Obamacare five years after it was signed into law.

 

“Obamacare isn’t getting better with age.

 

“Five years after it became law, we’ve seen millions of Americans lose the health care coverage they were promised they could keep, while many other Americans have had their work hours and incomes reduced because of Obamacare.  I’ve opposed Obamacare from Day One and oppose it still today.  I believe we should ‘Repeal and Replace’ or allow Americans to ‘Opt-Out’ of Obamacare as I fear the worst is still to come.”

 

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Then, from Jim Clyburn:

CLYBURN STATEMENT ON 5TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

WASHINGTON – U.S. House Assistant Democratic Leader James E. Clyburn delivered the following statement today on the Capitol steps about the fifth anniversary of the Affordable Care Act:

“Speaking at an international health care conference in 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” I profoundly agree with that view. Affordable access to quality health care should not depend on the circumstances of one’s birth.

“More than five years ago, during House debate on the Affordable Care Act, I labeled it “the Civil Rights Act of the 21st Century,” and I am pleased and very proud that the law is living up to that moniker.

“Under the ACA, insurance companies can no longer discriminate against the 129 million Americans who have pre-existing conditions. 105 million Americans no longer have a lifetime limit on their health coverage. No longer can women be penalized by insurance companies simply for being women. Thanks to the ACA, 16 million Americans who were previously uninsured finally have the security of health insurance for their families.

“Despite repeated Republican claims that the ACA would kill jobs, our economy is creating jobs at the fastest rate since the 1990s. So, as we gather to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, I’ve got a message to our Republican friends: The Affordable Care Act is the law of the land. Let’s work together to make it better.”’

– 30 –

Kinda hard to believe they’re looking at the same animal, isn’t it?

4 thoughts on “Obamacare anniversary: Two blind men describing an elephant”

  1. Brad Warthen Post author

    Oh, and I see Lindsey got praise from Jennifer Rubin while I was traveling:

    In Case You Missed It

    Lindsey Graham Named ‘Distinguished Pol of the Week’

    Washington Post

    Right Turn Blog: Distinguished Pol of the Week

    By Jennifer Rubin

    March 22, 2015

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2015/03/22/distinguished-pol-of-the-week-96/

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won reelection despite President Obama’s apparent personnel vendetta against the head of a government that will not bend to Obama’s will and accept a deal that effectively leads to a nuclear-ready Iran. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) stood tall in a fight with Democrats playing abortion politics with an anti-human trafficking. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) gave impassioned speeches decrying the president’s attacks on Israel’s elected leader.

    But special recognition should go to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) who seemed to be everywhere this week — inveighing against an inadequate defense budget, vowing to press ahead with legislation requiring Congress to have a say on any deal with Iran and even threatening to use the power of the purse if the United Nations tries to substitute its authority for that of the U.S. Senate in confirming a deal with Iran and shredding sanctions legislation.

    The latter has some intuitive appeal. “If they go to the UN Security council, and the UN Security council lifts all sanctions before we ever get a chance to look at this deal, absolutely I would suspend funding the United Nations, because I don’t think your money should go to an organization that irresponsible,” he said in a Fox News interview. It makes perfect sense when you consider the American taxpayers have elected their representatives, who in turn vote to fund the U.N. Why should taxpayers and their elected representatives fund an entity that then undermines the role of the body that pays for its upkeep?

    Graham is looking at a presidential run. He would be a welcome addition to the race if only to press his opponents: What will you do with budget caps on defense? Will you adhere to a bad deal with Iran pushed through without congressional approval? What resources are you willing to commit to fighting Islamic terrorism?

    For keeping his eye on the ball, for urging his colleagues to interpose themselves between an increasingly irrational president and a dangerous deal that will set Iran on the path to acquiring a bomb, and for making the argument for funding only the defense we need but all the defense we need, we can say, well done, Sen. Graham.

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    1. M.Prince

      Really now, it’s not all that hard for a conservative, especially a foreign policy hawk like Sen. Graham, to get a pol of the week award from the WPost’s resident right-wing commentator.

      1. Brad Warthen Post author

        The interesting thing about Rubin is that she does go for the traditional, hawkish sort of conservative. She doesn’t have the time of day for the Rand Pauls of the world, from what I’ve seen.

        I like that about her. Give me that old-time conservatism (or that old-time, Wilsonian or New Deal liberalism, for that matter) any time. It’s the newfangled versions I don’t hold with…

  2. bud

    Clyburn easily wins this debate. He uses actual facts whereas Graham merely regurgitates long discredited conservative bromides. It’s true that there are winners and losers from the ACA. But the uninsured rate is down and overall costs are rising more slowly than before. It’s no panacea but it has made things a bit better.

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