Obama faces trash talk left, right and center – literally – and doesn't deserve it. Despite bitter opposition, despite having come close to self-inflicted disaster, Obama has emerged as one of the most consequential and, yes, successful presidents in American history. His health reform is imperfect but still a huge step forward – and it's working better than anyone expected. Financial reform fell far short of what should have happened, but it's much more effective than you'd think. Economic management has been half-crippled by Republican obstruction, but has nonetheless been much better than in other advanced countries. And environmental policy is starting to look like it could be a major legacy.
I'm really just putting this up here to bookmark it, a primary use of my blog. But, here is a bit for Matt Funiello.
It's worth pointing out that some criticisms of Obamacare
from the left are also looking foolish. Obamacare is a system partly run
through private insurance companies (although expansion of Medicaid is
also a very important piece). And some on the left were outraged,
arguing that the program would do more to raise profits in the
medical-industrial complex than it would to protect American families.
You can still argue that single-payer would have covered
more people at lower cost – in fact, I would. But that option wasn't on
the table; only a system that appeased insurers and reassured the public
that not too much would change was politically feasible. And it's
working reasonably well: Competition among insurers who can no longer
deny insurance to those who need it most is turning out to be pretty
effective. This isn't the health care system you would have designed
from scratch, or if you could ignore special-interest politics, but it's
doing the job.
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