There’s little doubt that Obamacare has achieved some remarkable things. Given that Congress can barely agree on whether to pay its bills, the simple act of helping 7 million people get insurance is extraordinary in itself.
And there is reason for optimism.
Brookings Institution scholar Thomas Mann is an expert in political dysfunction. He cowrote It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism. Considering the “Republican Party’s swing to the right and decision to oppose anything,” he believes it’s important to take a long view of Obamacare.
“He succeeded where presidents for a half-century have failed, so it wasn’t going to be pretty,” Mann says. “And it wasn’t going to be easy.”