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Approximately 20 million people have gotten coverage since the launch of Obamacare. Trump has yet to reveal details of what he plans to do to the 2010 Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, other than to say that he intends to dismantle it soon after he takes office. It’s likely that some parts of it will be left untouched – like the pre-existing condition provision – and replacement could be delayed by a couple of years.
There is political turnover after every election, but off-the-record conversations with African-American journalists reveal a simple supposition: Once Obama is no longer in office, networks will no longer feel the need to employ as many African Americans on-screen, and the election of Trump may hasten that process. Whether or not this is actually true, this is the sentiment of many journalists and pundits of color I’ve spoken to.
The Hail Mary toss of casting more dirt and suspicion on Hillary in her email flap could do nothing to damp down black fury at Trump, let alone have any impact whatsoever among blacks about her candidacy. If anything, it simply confirmed the conspiracy notion that GOP dirty work was at play in trying to do anything at the 11th hour of the campaign to sabotage her run to the White House.
It is becoming clear as the election nears that the Clinton base is relatively narrow and getting narrower. The stubborn “Berniecrats” and distrustful independents are a problem with a neat solution in doubt as the election nears. Yet another problem is the early assumption of solid support from non-white Americans has shown to be weaker than expected. The vaunted Clinton ground game may have been limited in key markets by the distraction caused by a much stronger primary campaign that drained assets meant to be used in the massive run-up to the November election.
On the one hand we’re told that politicians cautiously hold a finger to the wind before acting and lack the courage to get ahead of their constituents. On the other, when politicians step forward—as Obama did on the TPP or ACA or David Cameron did on EU affiliation or Angela Merkel on immigration—their positions are deemed proof of the growing gulf between the governing elite and the masses who would be impacted.
There’s the Hillary Clinton who is and always has been an activist, advocate, and idealist determined to advance civil rights, promote women’s equality, champion the strivers, and upend the status quo by using the levers of power to effect political and social change. But no, there’s another Hillary Clinton, a calculating, privileged member of the elite who is too cozy with power, condescends to ordinary Americans, sees herself as above the law, and manipulates every word and sentence for political, personal, and financial gain.
First, in many ways, the president’s initiative to normalize relations with Cuba isn’t so much ending their isolation as ending ours. Cuba has enjoyed good and growing relations with our neighbors across the hemisphere for years. In recent years, those countries have threatened to exclude the U.S. from hemispheric meetings if we continued to demand Cuba’s exclusion. We have sought to isolate Cuba for over 50 years; we ended up isolating ourselves.
The most recent version of the report, released Monday, Feb. 22, by the Council of Economic Advisers, also noted the nation’s economy also extended the longest streak of job growth on record, and that wage growth in the last 12 months was the strongest it has been since the Great Recession. The combination of increased jobs and wages helped boost consumer confidence about the economy to its highest level since 2004, according to the report.