Obama Squanders His Political Legacy

It’s no exaggeration: If Barack Obama doesn’t get it together, America and the world will be threatened with three long years of a president who may technically occupy the Oval Office but who will have become a lame duck far too soon. His chances of accomplishing anything noteworthy sank rapidly during this past week. It’s entirely possible that he will be unable to salvage health care reform, the prestige piece of his first term. Republicans are going all out in an attempt to nullify that law.

It’s Obama’s fault that things have gotten so out of hand. The computer glitches on the Internet markets where citizens could choose a health insurance plan compatible with the 2010 law were not his fault. That said, however, he should have intervened far earlier in order to control the ensuing damage. The passivity with which his administration reacted to the problems even surprised his predecessor, Bill Clinton, who knows a thing or two about becoming the “Comeback Kid.”

But it’s clear his Republican enemies have exploited the program’s shortcomings with a brutality unknown in German politics. They accuse him of deliberately lying and breaking promises even when those accusations don’t stand up under scrutiny. The new law is based on the premise that everyone must be insured or pay a penalty for being uninsured and that all policies must meet certain minimum standards. It’s true that in countering conservative propaganda about his reforms that caused uncertainty among the people, he promised that everyone who wanted to stay with their current insurance plans would be allowed to do so. But that didn’t apply to plans chosen after 2010 that didn’t satisfy the requirements of the new law.

However, due to the fact that the markets aren’t functioning correctly, Republicans have been successful in demanding that everyone already insured be granted the right to retain their present insurance or else he would be lying. Glitches, accusations of lying and the fact that only 106,000 people have gotten new policies since the Oct. 1 opening all contribute to public reservation about the program. Obama’s popularity has suffered greatly, with only 39 percent of people now approving his performance.

The Republicans have a majority in the House of Representatives and now want to revoke key elements of the law piecemeal. Several Democrats are susceptible to election year threats and may well vote with their conservative counterparts.

This isn’t the time for Obama the great orator. He has to demonstrate that he has the stuff necessary to get the job done and become a political disciplinarian, or else forget about accomplishing very much in his second term — including, most importantly, immigration reform. Then even the memory of his first term accomplishments, where health care reform was his major achievement, will mean nothing.