Obama was a huge problem, but not because of being half black. Because he ran on a progressive platform, and then was decidedly Centrist once he actually got into office. The entire financial bailout could’ve gone way better, and moved the country in a far better direction, if he wasn’t busy placating his wall street friends. His drone program made every civilian in Afghanistan and Iraq despise us to the core, and made children afraid of the sky. He pushed through Obamacare/Affordable Care Act, which was the Republican plan, as a compromise. None of them voted for it anyway, he could’ve gotten through a much better plan instead. Hillary’s loss in 2016 was as much a denunciation of Obama’s centrism as it was about Hilary or right wing populism. And his interference in 2020 to get all the centrists to back Biden and shut down Bernie may have doomed us in 2024.
That is NOT how things went down with the ACA. It bothers me so much that there always seems to be someone who repeats this. The Democrats went for the ACA during the very small window of time that they had a Senate supermajority, so they didn’t have to depend on the Republicans. Single payer healthcare was considered but could not get the support of all the Democrats needed to pass it. The ACA ended up having to be a compromise in order to get all 60 Democratic votes, including the most conservative Democrats at the time. For example, the ACA was supposed to have a public option, but it could not be pushed through, because of people like Joe Lieberman. It barely got passed as it was. The window of time to succeed was a couple months.
They weren’t counting on Republican votes at all. If they had gone for something more progressive at the time, it would have gone the way of all of the other many failed healthcare reform bills.
Obama was a huge problem, but not because of being half black. Because he ran on a progressive platform, and then was decidedly Centrist once he actually got into office. The entire financial bailout could’ve gone way better, and moved the country in a far better direction, if he wasn’t busy placating his wall street friends. His drone program made every civilian in Afghanistan and Iraq despise us to the core, and made children afraid of the sky. He pushed through Obamacare/Affordable Care Act, which was the Republican plan, as a compromise. None of them voted for it anyway, he could’ve gotten through a much better plan instead. Hillary’s loss in 2016 was as much a denunciation of Obama’s centrism as it was about Hilary or right wing populism. And his interference in 2020 to get all the centrists to back Biden and shut down Bernie may have doomed us in 2024.
Facts
That is NOT how things went down with the ACA. It bothers me so much that there always seems to be someone who repeats this. The Democrats went for the ACA during the very small window of time that they had a Senate supermajority, so they didn’t have to depend on the Republicans. Single payer healthcare was considered but could not get the support of all the Democrats needed to pass it. The ACA ended up having to be a compromise in order to get all 60 Democratic votes, including the most conservative Democrats at the time. For example, the ACA was supposed to have a public option, but it could not be pushed through, because of people like Joe Lieberman. It barely got passed as it was. The window of time to succeed was a couple months.
They weren’t counting on Republican votes at all. If they had gone for something more progressive at the time, it would have gone the way of all of the other many failed healthcare reform bills.
Joe Lieberman can go fuck himself