As I pointed out a few days ago (THE OBAMACARE ROLLOUT 'S ECONOMIC IMPACT: “YOU THINK THIS COUNTRY’S IN BAD SHAPE, JUST WAIT ‘TIL I GET THROUGH WITH IT!”, 11/6/13), the debacle at least the initial rollout of
ObamaCare has done more damage to the economy than most people think, and
certainly far more than the non-event government shutdown about which so many
economists continue to wring their hands.
The political consequences of the ObamaCare defecation show, however,
are at least as profound, transcend party politics, and will have their own
impact on the economy.
The overwhelming reaction to the increased prices, the sieve
like jalopy of a website, and the general overall confusion and uncertainty
associated with the ObamaCare startup is a now pervasive feeling throughout the
land that we have an incompetent in the White House, a guy who never had a real
job, is not as smart as he and his most ardent supporters suppose (Nobody is,
by the way.), and is in way over his head.
This is damaging to the Democratic Party, for sure, but also is bad for
the country and for the economy. The consequences
of a rudderless ship of state for business and consumer confidence and in
international political and economic affairs can be devastating. Money likes to go to where it is treated well
and, barring that, at least likes to go where it has a reasonable idea of how
it will be treated. So the follow-on
effects of the problems ObamaCare is facing have the potential to be more long
lasting and widespread than they appear at first glance.
In the less important, buy maybe more fun, realm of partisan
politics, the ObamaCare travails have done incalculable damage to Mr. Obama and
the party he heads. Those middle ground
voters are not only being socked with the stress inducing consequences of the
ObamaCare rollout, but they are now coming to the conclusion that the whole
idea of ObamaCare was a mistake, a costly experiment in social engineering by a
group of people who have no idea of how Mr. and Mrs. America live their lives
and how challenging those lives have become.
They are disgusted and ready for a change.
The first opportunity to act on these feelings of disgust
will come in the Fall of next year. The
bigger opportunity will come in the Fall of 2016. Both are a long way off in realistic
political terms. But even at this early
juncture, one overwhelming conclusion is that if the Republicans cannot
capitalize on this dropping of the ball by Mr. Obama and his cohorts, they
ought to just fold up the tent and go home.
This is a huge opportunity that, thankfully for the Republicans, did not
rely on any skill or intelligence by the GOP; it was a pure gift to a party
that, given its political obtuseness, needs to subsist on gifts.
Can the GOP capitalize on this? Recent history would indicate that it
can’t. But maybe the Republicans can capitalize
if they realize that the reason they now have a chance is that the people are
tired of incompetence. So rather than
emphasize arcane issues in which many, if not most, people think government
should be at best only ancillarily involved, perhaps the GOP ought to emphasize
competence…the ability to get things done, an ability long and sadly lacking in
Washington. People are not ideological;
people want results. They may or may not
want much from government, but they want government to deliver what it
promises. Government’s part in the life
of the populace may not be a major concern in people’s lives, but people
certainly want government to do its part, whatever it may be.
Is this an argument for a certain recently re-elected
governor from New Jersey who has
shown a distaste for ideological arguments paired with an ability to achieve
results? At least at this point,
certainly. If the GOP wants to win, it
better nominate the big guy from Jersey . If it wants to live in an echo chamber,
constantly rehashing arguments most people don’t listen to, it can nominate one
of the ideological warriors from Congress and continue to get a charge from
listening to its imagined unappreciated brilliance.
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