(Un)happy Anniversary: House Democrats Celebrate One Year of Broken ObamaCare Promises

Democrats Run for Cover Despite Voting to Defend a Healthcare Law That has Cost Jobs, Raised Taxes and Driven Premiums Higher

President Obama often says he and his fellow Democrats just didn’t do a good enough sales job on ObamaCare to convince the American people of the job-destroying healthcare law’s so-called benefits:

OBAMA: “‘And that, I do think, is a mistake of mine. I think the assumption was, if I just focus on policy, if I just focus on the, you know, this provision, or that law, or are we making a good, rational decision here . . . that people will get it,’ the president told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos.

“Later, he insisted, ‘What I haven’t always been successful at doing is breaking through the noise and speaking directly to the American people in a way that during the campaign you could do.’

“But despite that sentiment, Obama didn’t seem to be at a loss for communication in his first year in the White House.”

“According to CBS News, he held 42 news conferences, gave 158 interviews and made 411 speeches and remarks. That included 52 addresses or statements on health-care reform efforts alone. And the number of interviews was far more than any of his recent predecessors during the first year of their terms.” (Maggie Haberman, “Bam: I Fell Out of Touch,” The New York Post, 1/21/2010)

One year later, it appears the more Americans have learned about ObamaCare, the less they like it. Contrary to Obama’s predictions, opposition to the law has grown and support for its repeal remains high, even in polling from groups friendly to the law:

RASMUSSEN SHOWS 62 PERCENT WANT REPEAL, WITH 51 PERCENT WHO “STRONGLY FAVOR” REPEAL: “Support for repeal of the national health care law has reached its highest level since May of last year. The number of voters who believe the plan will increase the cost of care has tied its highest level since the law’s passage last March.

“The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Voters shows that 62% favor repeal of the health care law, including 51% who Strongly Favor it. Only 33% of voters oppose repeal, with 24% who are Strongly Opposed. (“Health Care Law,” Rasmussen Reports, 3/14/2011)

EVEN THE OBAMACARE-FRIENDLY KAISER FAMILY FOUNDATION SHOWS A PLURALITY OPPOSE THE LAW: “The Affordable Care Act’s first anniversary comes as a new Kaiser Family Foundation poll tells us that public opinion on the law remains pretty much where it was a year ago, with 42 percent viewing it favorably, versus 46 percent who view it unfavorably. Dems have not succeeded in selling the law to the public.” (Greg Sargent, “A Year Later, Dems Remain Unapologetic on Health Care,” The Washington Post, 3/18/2011)

As a result, many Democrats are keeping an arm’s length away from any public celebration of the law:

“When the Democrats were pushing health care reform through Congress, Pelosi was always surrounded by a cast of all-stars at the big press conferences. The rest of the leadership was there, as were Rep. John Dingell of Michigan — who had gaveled the passage of Medicare in 1965 — and Henry Waxman of California, who steered the Affordable Care Act through the Energy and Commerce Committee past roadblocks from centrist Democrats.

“Thursday, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer was nowhere to be found. Neither was Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the third-ranking Democrat among House leadership. There was no Waxman. And Dingell, who sat smiling beside President Barack Obama at the signing ceremony one year ago, was gone too.

“Instead, Pelosi was flanked by rank-and-file Democrats like Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina — just like the previous anniversary event she held a week ago…

“But neither of the pressers, so far, has featured the all-stars. It’s not just a contrast with last year — it’s also a contrast with Republicans, who have been happy to gather their most vocal critics of the law to blast away at one press conference after another.” (David Nather, “Dem Bigs Skip Nancy Pelosi’s Health-Law Party,” Politico, 3/17/2011)

That hasn’t stopped them, however, from playing fast and loose with the truth in defending ObamaCare. As The Washington Post‘s Fact-Checker blog put it, Democrats keep “repeating claims that have previously been found to be false or exaggerated”:

“House Democrats held a birthday party last week for passage of the health-care law. Just as we looked at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s floor speech noting the milestone, we will now examine some of the claims made by Democrats.

“McConnell framed his speech in negative terms, citing data to back up his language. Both Democrats and Republicans can pick and choose numbers and studies to make their case, but we found that generally McConnell did not exaggerate or use bogus figures. In fact, he correctly described a Congressional Budget Office analysis suggesting a potential reduction in employment of 800,000 jobs (technically, one-half of 1 percent of household employment in 2021) that other Republicans have misrepresented.

“By contrast, House Democrats appear to show little hesitation about repeating claims that previously have found to be false or exaggerated. So let’s take a tour through the numbers.” (Glen Kessler, “Gifts of Bogus Statistics For the Health-Care Law’s Birthday,” The Washington Post’s Fact-Checker Blog, 3/21/2011)

The bottom line is that as Democrats continue opposing efforts to repeal ObamaCare, Americans are paying the price for their job-destroying experiment in government-run healthcare:

ONLY 3 DEMS JOIN GOP ON OBAMACARE REPEAL: Final Vote: 245-189 (House Vote #14, 1/19/2011)

PELOSI, 111 OTHER DEMOCRATS VOTE AGAINST REPEALING BURDENSOME 1099 REQUIREMENTS: Final Vote: 314-112 (House Vote #162, 3/3/2011)