(ThyBlackMan.com) It is no secret, President Obama has been battered over the last few days due to missteps associated with his signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act (ACA). His enemies and indeed, some members of the Democratic Party have vocalized their displeasure in the way he handled the rollout of his health care plan. The rollout created a schism within the Democratic Party and revealed operational problems within the Obama administration. The entire House of Representatives is up for re-election in 2014.
Those members in districts who have to face voters in tight elections surely did not want to explain or argue about the ills of the Affordable Care Act to an electorate that has been beaten and pounded by a slow recovering economy. Many of whom place the responsibility for a resolution of the woes of the economy squarely at the feet of this president who has yet to come up with an answer after holding office for five years. It is one thing to argue the merits of such a health program, but poor management which is the operational failure of the rollout is really difficult for office seekers to defend, given the administration had three years to get it right. Therefore, in a rare show of verbosity in dealing with their party’s leader, the President, Democrats openly, in regard to fixing the program’s rollout are demanding answers and action.
The administration appeared to be initially surprised as their response to the criticism was slow in coming, giving former President Clinton an opening to make a comment about how Mr. Obama should handle the problem of people
whose policies were being cancelled due to the ACA, after Mr. Obama repeatedly said this would not happen. Mr. Clinton said the president should find a way to let these people keep their insurance policies. The whole episode demonstrated the president’s team is not as savvy as some of us thought. They appeared to be sloppy and off their game. Democrats want the operational deficiencies of this program’s rollout to recede from the headlines as they prepare for a new election season.
Many of us in the black community as we looked at the “doings” and the “back-and-forth” over the ACA in the capital have always had problems with this president, his priorities, and operational style. The heavy emphasis on gay rights did not set well with many African Americans and the black clergy is still dealing with the fallout of that initiative.
Then there is the push for comprehensive immigration reform, which has been shown will demonstrably hurt blacks if the Senate bill is passed in its present form (https://thyblackman.com/2013/07/12/blacks-need-to-wake-up-their-worst-nightmare-is-unfolding/ ), nevertheless this president has stated this is a major priority of his second term. These two issues are important and there is no suggestion here that they should not be addressed. The point being made is that these issues are being addressed, while six uninterrupted years, when you consider the Bush administration, of double-digit black unemployment is taking a back seat.
If this president and his team refocused their attention to a national job creation plan http://www.Jobcreationnow.com , while continuing to deal with the negative fallout over healthcare, they may find the electorate to be forgiving, regarding their fumbling of the rollout of the Affordable Care Act. For if they were successful in articulating such a plan to the American people, the president’s approval numbers would turn upward. Believe it or not job creation is the #1 issue on the minds of all Americans, black, white and in between. The #1 concern of most folks is not the budget, not healthcare, not gay rights, not immigration reform, and not the farm bill. Its jobs, jobs, jobs! Former President Bill Clinton said, to remind him of what the focus of his past presidential campaign should be, he wrote on the wall in his campaign office, “It’s the economy stupid!” Perhaps this president ought to remind his staff of what is important to the American people, and in so doing keep that same message in front of him and that simple message is job creation.
A recent Pew Research poll clearly indicates this is the focus of the American people. Following is a direct quote from that report, “Obama’s job ratings on the economy have been more negative than positive for more than four years, but the current measure is the worst of his presidency. Just 31% approve of the way Obama is handling the economy, while 65% disapprove. Only about one-in-five independents (21%) give Obama positive marks on the economy, while 75% disapprove. About a third of Democrats (34%) disapprove of the way Obama is handling the economy (64% approve) ( http://www.people-press.org/2013/11/08/obamas-second-term-slide-continues/ ). And so it goes!
Staff Writer; James Davis
More information about JD and his Deficit Neutral Stimulus Plan Can be founded at http://www.sslumpsum.com.
One may also pick up this “brother” latest book which is entitled; Hey…God’s Talking To You The Study Book.
