King Barry has his day

After all the hemming and hawing we heard these past 6 months, "Obamacare" delivers on its goal of 7 million subscribers putting conservatives in their biggest tizzy fit since Obama was re-elected in 2012. "How can that be?" many ask, refusing to accept the numbers, or babbling that less than half of those who signed up will pay the premiums, even though initial reports show 85 per cent of subscribers meeting their initial payments.

The scariest thing for Republicans is that the federally sponsored health insurance program might actually work. It has a sufficient "pool" to keep rates down. Obama's big push to lure young Americans not covered on their parents' plan (the age was increased to 26) seems to have yielded a great number of new subscribers. His appearance on Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis was priceless. His popularity among the youngest demographic of voters remains high, and this was the ideal medium to reach them, showing off his sense of humor. Something Republicans seem to completely lack these days.

Still, many remain skeptical, and even the mainstream media continues to fidget, generating a faux scandal over the "dissing" of Kathleen Sebelius? Congressional Republicans wanted her head back in October when the launch of healthcare.gov got off to such a rough start, but she more than held her own in the faux Congressional hearings that followed, and has been actively working behind the scenes ever since to keep this program moving forward.

So, what does this say about the midterms? Polls show support of the Affordable Care Act is trending upward, reaching a high of 49 per cent this week. The Republicans may want to rethink their strategy, as they will really be taking a fall if approval continues to grow in the wake of the success of the health insurance exchanges.

I'm sure the good doctor will be making a great number of house calls to continue to denigrate "Obamacare." But, he will look even more the lone wolf, as the AMA has long supported the ACA, offering advise on how to navigate the website and get the best coverage.

It seems the GOP still can't get over King Barry slipping this health care bill by them in Congress. It's not like they didn't put up a big temper-tantrum, just as they did in 1993. However, they didn't count on the Democrats sticking together on this one and pulling Arlen Specter from their ranks to get the 60th vote they needed to carry the Senate. This was why they were so excited about Scott Brown winning the Massachusetts Senate special election in early 2010, chanting "41," only to be outflanked once again when Obama was able to get House Democrats to accept the revised Senate Bill in full, not having to submit the bill to a second vote in the Senate. Ted Kennedy must have smiled in his grave.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Welcome to this month's reading group selection. David Von Drehle mentions The Melting Pot , a play by Israel Zangwill, that premiered on Broadway in 1908. At that time theater was accessible to a broad section of the public, not the exclusive domain it has become over the decades. Zangwill carried a hopeful message that America was a place where old hatreds and prejudices were pointless, and that in this new country immigrants would find a more open society. I suppose the reference was more an ironic one for Von Drehle, as he notes the racial and ethnic hatreds were on display everywhere, and at best Zangwill's play helped persons forget for a moment how deep these divides ran. Nevertheless, "the melting pot" made its way into the American lexicon, even if New York could best be describing as a boiling cauldron in the early twentieth century. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America takes a broad view of events that led up the notorious fire, not...

Dylan in America

Whoever it was in 1969 who named the very first Bob Dylan bootleg album “Great White Wonder” may have had a mischievous streak. There are any number of ways you can interpret the title — most boringly, the cover was blank, like the Beatles’ “White Album” — but I like to see a sly allusion to “Moby-Dick.” In the seven years since the release of his first commercial record, Dylan had become the white whale of 20th-century popular song, a wild, unconquerable and often baffling force of musical nature who drove fans and critics Ahab-mad in their efforts to spear him, lash him to the hull and render him merely comprehensible. --- Bruce Handy, NYTimes ____________________________________________ I figured we can start fresh with Bob Dylan. Couldn't resist this photo of him striking a Woody Guthrie pose. Looks like only yesterday. Here is a link to the comments building up to this reading group.

Team of Rivals Reading Group

''Team of Rivals" is also an America ''coming-of-age" saga. Lincoln, Seward, Chase et al. are sketched as being part of a ''restless generation," born when Founding Fathers occupied the White House and the Louisiana Purchase netted nearly 530 million new acres to be explored. The Western Expansion motto of this burgeoning generation, in fact, was cleverly captured in two lines of Stephen Vincent Benet's verse: ''The stream uncrossed, the promise still untried / The metal sleeping in the mountainside." None of the protagonists in ''Team of Rivals" hailed from the Deep South or Great Plains. _______________________________ From a review by Douglas Brinkley, 2005

James FergusonApril 3, 2014 at 12:09 PM
Colbert nails it!

http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/3ljnpx/obamacare-victory-lap
TripplerApril 30, 2014 at 6:31 PM
9.5 million now signed up and the number keeps going up. More money and lives saved every day due to ACA which has been a godsend to many including myself.

Dispatches from Vilnius

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