With Kathleen Sebelius and Vice President Biden on his right and his nominee as successor at HHS, Sylvia Burwell, on his right, the President congratulated Kathleen Sebelius for making history with Obamacare.
In the Rose Garden with tulips blooming, President Obama said Sebelius oversaw the HHS at a time in history when America decided access to healthcare was not a privilege but a right.
“There are 7 and a half people across the country who have the security of health insurance for the first time and that’s because of the woman standing here next to me today, and we are proud of her for that, that’s an historical accomplishment.”
All was not smooth. President Obama acknowledged that both have bumps from getting Obamacare rolled out, “She’s got bumps; I’ve got bumps, bruises.”
But for all of that, “She’s earned the right” to leave the administration now that the roll out is done and is off to a successful start.
Sebelius said “I knew it wouldn’t be easy. There’s a reason no previous president has been able to pass healthcare.”
She acknowledged, “I got to be a leader of HHS during these most historic times. It’s the most meaningful work I’ve ever been a part of.” She continued, “The Affordable Care Act is the most significant piece of legislation in the last 50 years.”
Much will be made of the fact that Sebelius noted that she was missing a page of her speech, as if this gotcha is as relevant as overseeing the implementation of one of the biggest pieces of legislation in 50 years, with a Republican Party so hell bent on destroying it that they refused to fund the state run exchanges and then blamed Sebelius for all of their troubles.
All in all, the President and Kathleen Sebelius know what the media and the GOP and much of the public does not know: Obamacare is a success. This is a BFD. It’s a huge shift in the social safety net. It will change lives. It will be cherished, like Social Security is. No one will remember the “glitches” and the lost speech page, except for the losers. The winners are too busy working hard to make history to focus on bumps in the road.
The President rightfully treated today like a victory lap, but you won’t hear much about the actual historical context of this victory until long after Obama is out of office, at which point Republicans will be claiming it was their idea and the media will go along with them on it, since the idea of market place exchanges was originally a Heritage Foundation concept. However, Republicans have done nothing but obstruct Obamacare, which is more than just an exchange system, and deserve no credit for its success.
No one ever said it was perfect or the roll out wasn’t flawed. But the law itself is huge, the sign ups exceeded expectations, and the people who worked on Obamacare to make it better, to make it work, have a lot to be proud of. The backseat drivers and the trolls have nothing but a missing speech page and fictional dreams of failure over which to gloat.
Sylvia Burwell, the current director of the Office of Management and Budget, is the President’s new nominee.
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