Letters: Blaming Obama for Obamacare

Re “Obama’s reversal of fortune,” Opinion, Nov. 20

Doyle McManus seems to be assuming the worst when he writes that “every individual story of someone dissatisfied with their insurance choices will serve as a renewed reminder that Obama made promises that weren’t true.”

Ironically, on the same page, as part of his interview with Patt Morrison, Kaiser Foundation head Drew Altman noted:

“A lot is going to turn on what the news media do; this law is ripe for death by anecdote.... There’s a serious challenge for the news media to get out and see how the law is working and not just find one juicy story that makes headlines.”

Unfortunately, the mainstream media aren’t very good at providing depth, and this isn’t true just of Fox News.

For example, the local CBS outlet did a story recently on food stamp recipients in L.A. County gambling and drinking away their benefits. So much for the tragedy of cuts in the federal food-stamp program.

Is this how the Affordable Care Act will end up?

Robert Von Bargen

Santa Monica

One wonders why President Obama’s popularity ratings have dipped. Let’s review the record.

Did he commence an unfunded, trillion-dollar war of choice in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed? Did he do little while Wall Street created the most severe recession since 1929? Did he go on vacation after being warned that Osama bin Laden was determined to attack the United States? No, no, and no.

So what’s the rap?

Evidently, he is hung up on the notion that we have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and he believes to achieve and sustain these standards, one must have access to affordable healthcare. So he is trying to provide assistance for those who cannot afford insurance.

No wonder his popularity is slipping: He is compassionate.

Frank Ferrone

El Cajon

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