On her radio show, Laura Ingraham ably summarized the two phases of media treatment of Obama. There was the long "Dream" phase, when we was a racial pioneer in the White House.
Now the Reality has set in, "and a lot of Democrats" are "beginning to bail on the idea of Obamacare" because Obama simply didn't pay enough attention to make sure it launched effectively. First, the Dream quote:
"You know what it [Obama's inauguration] reminds me of? It reminds me of the Velvet Revolution. I was in Prague when that happened. And Vaclav Havel was a generational leader and was in the square in Prague and the streets were filled with joy. And we're not overthrowing a communist regime here, obviously, but an unpopular President is leaving and people have been waiting for this moment." -- NBC's Tom Brokaw during live coverage prior to Obama's inauguration, January 20, 2009.
And then, Reality intrudes:
Well, there have been several low points, but this is certainly a low point at a critical time coming into the 2014 elections, and a lot of Democrats beginning to bail on the idea of Obamacare. What is striking to me about that statement, "we should have been aware" -- I would think, given the importance of Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act, eight months ago the president would have started every meeting with, How are we doing? Is that going to be ready? That's going to be our big play for the second term," and demanding from Kathy Sebelius and other people who are involved in it that they were ready and sending people over there to take a look at the rollout. That it suddenly landed the way that it did in utter chaos -- and it's not going to be an easy fix -- is just inexplicable.” – Brokaw on Meet the Press, November 17, 2013.
