Six Reasons the Affordable Care Act Isn't Hurricane Katrina

By John Cassidy, The New Yorker

17 November 13

riday was the day when the world came down on top of President Obama-or, rather, the Times did. In a scathing editorial, the Grey Lady lambasted the "incompetence of the administration in ushering in reforms that millions have been waiting for." On the paper's front page, one of its White House correspondents, Michael D. Shear, wrote that the "disastrous rollout" of the Affordable Care Act not only threatens the rest of the President's agenda, "but also raises questions about his competence in the same way that the Bush administration's botched response to Hurricane Katrina undermined any semblance of Republican efficiency."

In writing about the rollout of the A.C.A., I, too, have used the term "disaster." Referring to the over-all situation, I've also said that "it's a mess." But Hurricane Katrina? I can easily imagine why Republican politicians are making the comparison-it casts President Obama in a terrible light. But does it really stand up? I don't think so, and here are six reasons why:

1) Obama got out of Air Force One: Whatever you think of it, and I've always had mixed feelings about it, the A.C.A. is a historic and proactive piece of legislation that was intended to fulfill Obama's campaign promise of universal health care. Even if it were to fail, and it's far too early to reach any conclusions about what its ultimate results will be, the President would deserve credit for tackling an issue that's been festering for half a century or more. He saw a problem and walked toward it rather than away from it. And now that things have gone awry, he's taken responsibility. "(T)hat's on me," he said on Thursday, while introducing some emergency fixes that will allow some purchasers of individual insurance policies to keep their existing plans.

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