E. J. Dionne Slams David Brooks On Obamacare
The Washington Post’s E. J. Dionne slammed New York Times’ David Brooks for his rather arcane views of Obamacare and American individualism.When David Gregory asked what makes the panel feel Obamacare would look better in 2014, there were various opinions. David Brooks was unconcerned with implementation. He seems to concede that in the long run Obamacare will be correctly implemented. He takes exception to the mandate.
“Two issues, first the competency issue of getting the website. That’s by far the least important,” David Brooks said. “The most important issue is the mandate issue. Basically when you have any big government program, you build the system, and you say to people you have to work within the system. And sometimes we are going to limit your choice. We are going to mandate things. But the American people do not like mandates anymore. We are a much more individualistic culture.”
David Brooks then accuses the Obama administration of surrendering the mandate whenever there was any pushback.
E. J. Dionne’s response was perfect. “I think there is something crazy when people say government can’t deliver healthcare. Ever heard of Medicare? Ever heard of Medicaid? And there is a mandate to pay taxes for those things,” he said. “This thing is complicated because President Obama chose to go for a model that is a market oriented model that Republicans favor of helping people buy private insurance. That proves to be very complicated. But what you are seeing already is that there is an enormous appetite by all the Americans who do not have health insurance to buy it and that is what’s going to save Obamacare. This is filling a real need in society.”
The hypocrisy and inhumaneness of those in ivory towers with Cadillac insurance plans talking about what Americans want is laughable. E. J. Dionne unlike most on the panel display the necessary empathy Americans need in real journalism.