◼ The implementation of Obamacare is on course to be remembered as one of the worst public policy disasters of all time. Though it was billed as a law that would decrease everyone’s insurance premiums by as much as $2500 per year, it is driving prices up, will drive taxes up, and forces Americans to buy a product as the price of being an American. - Bryan Preston/PJMedia
◼ Poll: 60 percent call Obamacare rollout “a joke,” Obama approval dips again - Guy Benson/HotAir's Green Room
(1) By a two-to-one margin (60/31), Americans say Obamacare’s implementation has been “a joke,” as opposed to it’s “going fine.” According to a recent CBS News survey, just 12 percent of the public says the launch has gone “well.”
(2) By a similar margin (59/31), Americans say the Obama administration is doing more to deepen the partisan divide in Washington, rather than bridge it. Hope and change, baby.
(3) Confirming a slew of other polls, it appears that the shutdown showdown actually boosted Obamacare’s overall perception. Slightly. A majority (51/41) would still prefer to “get rid of” the new law rather than keep it, but that’s down slightly from (53/40) in July. Independents support trashing the law by a 30-point margin.
(4) A strong plurality (49/38) of Americans believe that administration officials responsible for the failed launch should be fired. Fully 92 percent support the principle behind the so-called “Vitter Amendment” (which would have stripped away Washington’s sweetheart Obamacare carve-out). House Republican leaders were preparing to make this item their final shutdown/debt ceiling “ask,” but the rank-and-file crumbled, handing Democrats a lay-up win. If the GOP had stuck together, they could have dared Obama to follow through on his veto threat. Would the president have kept the government shut down and risked technical default for the sole purpose of protecting wildly unpopular Beltway exceptions?
More at the link.
