Baldo

Nov 26 2014, 09:35 AM

Sen. Chuck Schumer: Obamacare Focused 'On The Wrong Problem,' Ignores The Middle Class

Despite the enduring unpopularity of Obamacare, Congressional Democrats have up to now stood by their health care law, allowing that “it’s not perfect” but that they are proud of their votes to pass it. That all changed on Tuesday, when the Senate’s third-highest-ranking Democrat—New York’s Chuck Schumer—declared that “we took [the public’s] mandate and put all our focus on the wrong problem—health care reform…When Democrats focused on health care, the average middle-class person thought, ‘The Democrats aren’t paying enough attention to me.’”

Sen. Schumer made his remarks at the National Press Club in Washington. “Democrats blew the opportunity the American people gave them…Now, the plight of uninsured Americans and the hardships caused by unfair insurance company practices certainly needed to be addressed,” Schumer maintained. “But it wasn’t the change we were hired to make. Americans were crying out for the end to the recession, for better wages and more jobs—not changes in health care.”

“This makes sense,” Schumer continued, “considering 85 percent of all Americans got their health care from either the government, Medicare, Medicaid, or their employer. And if health care costs were going up, it really did not affect them. The Affordable Care Act was aimed at the 36 million Americans who were not covered. It has been reported that only a third of the uninsured are even registered to vote…it made no political sense.”

The response from Obama Democrats was swift. Many, like Obama speechwriters Jon Lovett and Jon Favreau and NSC spokesman Tommy Vietor, took to Twitter. “Shorter Chuck Schumer,” said Vietor, “I wish Obama cared more about helping Democrats than sick people.”...snipped

http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2014/11/26/sen-chuck-schumer-obamacare-focused-on-the-wrong-problem-ignores-the-middle-class/

We have been saying that for a long time. The 111th Congress(2009-10)under the leadership" of Reid & Pelosi will go down as one of the worst ever, and it goes to say Obama was totally unprepared to be President

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"We should have done it. We just shouldn't have done it first,"

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...“It wasn’t the change we were hired to make; Americans were crying out for an end to the recession, for better wages and more jobs, not for changes in their health care,”

..."After passing the stimulus, Democrats should have continued to propose middle class-oriented programs and built on the partial success of the stimulus. But unfortunately, Democrats blew the opportunity the American people gave them. We took their mandate and put all of our focus on the wrong problem — health-care reform."

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Asked by a reporter whether he could pinpoint any errors in the plan or the way it was rolled out, Schumer responded by pointing to the passage of minimum wage increases in red states as evidence that the platform worked and must be expanded.

"It just has to be bigger, broader, more prominent and more across the whole Democratic Party," he concluded

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“If people don’t believe government can deliver, they’ll follow the Republican path. That leaves the job to Democrats. If we run away from government, the negative misperceptions about it will take root, and even if people support our ideas, they won’t believe government can deliver.”

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“Democrats must embrace government. It’s what we believe in; it’s what unites our party; and, most importantly, it’s the only thing that’s going to get the middle class going again,”

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“By using government in a careful, focused way, we will provide a shield against the large forces that have worked against middle-class families so that they have a better job and more money in their pockets,”

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“Instead of focusing on the middle class, they’ll spend their time in the majority bashing Obamacare, the EPA and immigration reform, but when it comes to doing anything positive, they’ll be paralyzed,”

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“This makes sense,” Schumer continued, “considering 85 percent of all Americans got their health care from either the government, Medicare, Medicaid, or their employer. And if health care costs were going up, it really did not affect them. The Affordable Care Act was aimed at the 36 million Americans who were not covered. It has been reported that only a third of the uninsured are even registered to vote…it made no political sense.”

foxglove

Nov 26 2014, 07:53 PM

Is Schumer trying to help Mary Landrieu in the Dec. 2 run-off election?

kbp

Dec 1 2014, 07:21 AM

To his credit, if he is due any, Gruber had said there would never be any savings.