The “Professional Left’s” Health Care Damage Control
Per my article last night, Politico is up with an expanded story on the Powerpoint presentation by Families USA, the AFL-CIO, the SEIU, and AARP – aka the “professional left” – attempting damage control over the “astonishing shortcoming[s] in the White House’s all-out communications effort” surrounding the unpopular health care law. “The presentation also concedes that the fiscal and economic arguments that were the White House’s first and most aggressive sales pitch have essentially failed.”
Further evidence of that failure comes in this morning’s CNN poll, which found that only 40% support the health care law, while a majority – 56% – oppose the measure. In addition, Americans oppose the individual mandate to purchase health insurance by a 56-44% margin. Most surprisingly, Americans across every income group – and across every age group – oppose the health care law’s individual mandate. The results only confirm what former DNC Chairman Howard Dean admitted a fortnight ago – that “the American people aren’t going to put up with a mandate” to purchase health insurance. That advice from an erstwhile Obama ally will likely prove cold comfort to Democrats seeking a way out of the unpopular law they passed.