George Will On ObamaCare: Claiming ‘The Debate Is Over Is Something Of A Mantra’

April 20th, 2014 12:51 PM

Conservative columnist and Fox News contributor George Will mocked President Obama’s claim last week that the debate over ObamaCare is over and that Republicans need to stop trying to repeal the law.

Appearing as a guest on Fox News Sunday on April 20, Will argued that “The debate is over is something of a mantra. The debate is over about climate change, everyone be quiet. The debate is over about early childhood education, everyone be quiet. Lots of things are supposedly over. And you hear that from people who are finding the evidence inconvenient." [See video below.]

Will continued his dissection of ObamaCare:

Now, is it working? That's a fairly minimal claim. I mean the farm subsidies in this country are working whether or not they are doing good work is another matter. So this is -- the argument about ObamaCare is not just about ObamaCare.

It's about the nature of the American regime. What kind of country do we want to live in. And therefore, it's going to tick on for some while. Furthermore, we haven't seen how the distribution of enrollees, how many are young and how are female are going to have the work of adverse selection.

The conservative finished by arguing ObamaCare being a success was a “Fairly minimal claim. And he is contradicting himself. He says we should all quit talking about this except Democrats this fall should campaign on the basis of the multiform excellence of the Affordable Care Act.

See relevant transcript below.


Fox

Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace

April 20, 2014

9:19 a.m. Eastern 

CHRIS WALLACE: President Obama is announcing 8 million people have now signed up for ObamaCare and hammering Republicans for continuing to try to repeal the law. And it’s time now for our Sunday group, Syndicated columnist George Will, author of the new book "A Nice Little Place on the North Side" about Wrigley Field at 100. "Time" Magazine's Rana Foroohar, reporter Robert Costa of "The Washington Post" and former Democratic Senator Evan Bayh. Did you just raise your hand? I thought you wanted my attention right away. I’m going to ask you the first question. The president says ObamaCare is working. The debate is over. Is he right?

GEORGE WILL: Well, the debate is over is something of a mantra. The debate is over about climate change, everyone be quiet. The debate is over about early childhood education, everyone be quiet. Lots of things are supposedly over. And you hear that from people who are finding the evidence inconvenient. Now, is it working? That's a fairly minimal claim. I mean the farm subsidies in this country are working whether or not they are doing good work is another matter. So this is -- the argument about ObamaCare is not just about ObamaCare. It's about the nature of the American regime. What kind of country do we want to live in. And therefore, it's going to tick on for some while. Furthermore, we haven't seen how the distribution of enrollees, how many are young and how are female are going to have the work of adverse selection. So I'd say it's a fairly minimal claim. And he is contradicting himself. He says we should all quit talking about this except Democrats this fall should campaign on the basis of the multiform excellence of the Affordable Care Act.