An Alternate History of Obamacare
My latest column for The Week examines Obama's mistake in pushing for healthcare reform instead of focusing on the voters' number one concern: the economy.
Whether it is Republicans who wish to privatize Social Security or Democrats who wish to universalize healthcare, it is always dangerously tempting for partisans to substitute what they wish to do for what the electorate demands they do.
The Obama team succumbed to temptation, seizing upon the recession as an opportunity to cram through a big healthcare reform — a dream of Democrats since the 1940s.
But that plan was based on a high-risk gamble — that the Obama stimulus plan would deliver results within a reasonable time. If the gamble proved right, if unemployment topped at the 8 percent level predicted by the administration’s economists, then the White House would have the credit and clout to push through its next big plan.
That assumption failed.
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