Foul wind by any other name
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
William Shakespeare, from Romeo and Juliet
This is that rare occasion when I quote old Bill Shakespeare.
Come to think of it, I’ve never quoted him.
But putting roses and their fragrant qualities aside, I think Mr. Shakespeare was onto something.
Let’s look at Kentucky.
It appears that Obamacare is mighty unpopular in that state.
A recent NBC/Marist poll indicated that 56 percent of the people polled dislike Obamacare.
That’s compared to only 22 percent who don’t like the state’s own health-care plan – Kynect.
So far 413,000 Kentuckians have signed up for Kynect.
Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear has called his state’s participation in the Kynect health-care plan an “indisputable success.”
Beshear claims that 75 percent of the people who applied for Kynect had been uninsured.
They are now.
But what many of those people may not know is that Kynect IS Obamacare.
Kentucky just changed the name to give it a local flavor, but Kynect is identical to President Obama’s health-care plan.
Or, as Lee Miringoff, the Marist pollster who conducted the recent poll claims, “Call it something else, and the negatives drop.”
In other words (to riff on William Shakespeare’s prose) – “Health care by any other name would smell as sweet.”
There’s an anecdotal story to support that thesis involving a middle-aged man who approached government workers at a booth during the Kentucky State Fair.
Those workers were hailing the virtues of Kynect.
The man, who was quite impressed by their presentation, told one of the workers, “This beats Obamacare I hope.”
The woman running that booth asked herself, “Do I burst his bubble?”
But there’s more.
Another survey conducted by Gallup national polling indicates that when the term “Affordable Care Act” is used, it polls 7 percent higher than the term “Obamacare.”
Nationwide, and despite all of the efforts by Republican doomsayers, Obamacare has slowly grown in popularity, with more than 8 million signing-up for it.
That means Republicans aren’t nearly as confident about repealing it.
Despite the Congressional Budget Office predictions that a repeal of Obamacare would lead to massive federal budget deficits, the self-anointed Watchers of the Nation’s Piggybank had tried to gut it 50 times.
That is, until March.
The rising Obamacare numbers have led Republicans to quietly avoid any new repeal efforts.
There are no new Obamacare committee hearings being scheduled by the Republican-led House of Representatives, and there aren’t any new repeal votes scheduled.
All of that blustery rhetoric, and those meaningless filibusters, haven’t changed the fact that many Americans are now getting healthcare coverage – and “by any other name.”
Out in Kentucky, where Kynect (Obamacare, or The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) is enjoying “indisputable success,” there’s a sign that there could be negative political fallout for one staunch Republican.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is in for the political fight of his life.
His career in the U.S. Senate began in 1985.
But he could face a serious challenge in the fall from his Democratic opponent – Alison Lundegran Grimes.
Despite being something of a political novice, Grimes is running neck-and-neck with McConnell in recent polling.
McConnell’s unending opposition to Obamacare, in a state where it seems to be working, might not be benefit him in the long run.
It’s ironic that in the 2010 mid-term elections, Republicans retook control of the U.S. House, and made big gains in the Senate, with the “foul wind” of the Tea Party, and its vocal disdain for Obamacare, at their backs.
The midterm elections of 2014, with the dwindling disapproval of Obamacare, presents Republicans with a problem.
The Tea Party, which seems to have faded into the political background, hasn’t really shown the same willingness to try to fill up the Washington Mall as they did before the 2010 midterms.
Rallies to defeat a law that growing numbers of Americans are beginning to enjoy, seems unwise.
Another riff on William Shakespeare – “A foul wind by any other name…”
Edward A. Owens is a three-time Emmy Award winner and 20-year veteran of television news. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net