Assuming she can survive what is likely to be a confirmation hearing circus, OMB Director Sylvia Mathews Burwell will soon replace Kathleen Sebelius as the Secretary of Health & Human Services, with responsibility for further implementing the Affordable Care Act. The White House insists that Sebelius submitted her resignation without any prompting, which is likely true. But that doesn’t mean she is leaving on fantastic terms.
Nonetheless, the White House is promoting the fact that she overcame the initial problems with the Healthcare.gov website and actually exceeded enrollment expectations and goals. Basically, they’re saying that Sebelius oversaw the HHS Department at a time when approximately ten million people got access to health care they would not otherwise have, and her critics cannot claim to have done anything of similar merit.
That’s a fair point, but it glosses over the lasting damage done to how the law is perceived, and Sebelius bears responsibility for that.
She will leave with an imperfect record that she can still be proud of.
As for Ms. Burwell:
The president is hoping that Ms. Burwell, 48, a Harvard- and Oxford-educated West Virginia native with a background in economic policy, will bring an intense focus and management acumen to the department. The budget office, which she has overseen since April of last year, is deeply involved in developing and carrying out health care policy.
“The president wants to make sure we have a proven manager and relentless implementer in the job over there, which is why he is going to nominate Sylvia,” said Denis R. McDonough, the White House chief of staff.
And the Republicans will surely give her a fair and dignified hearing.
Commerce would have been a better fit for Sebelius. (Or VP, but Obama is too conservative to have done that.)
Flirting with Daschle and then appointing Sebelius to Health & Human Services was a big clue that we would see tweaks and not the fundamental changes required to improve the US dysfunctional health care system. Sebelius was handed a bag of lemons and managed to make a bit of lemonade, and therefore deserves more thanks than she’s gotten.
Agreed on the second paragraph, disagree on the VP slot; if I were the nominee, I also would have nominated Biden. We’re assuming that I’d have to be enough of a conservative/sell-out to get the nomination in the first place, mind you. Any of the other names were garbage. Sebelius is just…meh, boring? Iunno, doesn’t strike me as someone who would bring voters to the polls.
On the second graf, Why is she getting blame here in the first place? “The buck stops here?” Bullocks. The system of bidding for software contracts is beyond broken and there’s nothing Sebelius could have done about that.
Are you discounting the fact that Sebelius was twice elected to the Governorship of Kansas? Kansas! And was rated as a very effective governor. Electorally, Biden added nothing to the Obama ticket. Sebelius could possibly have increased the white female vote — and if nothing else created some cognitive dissonance for Kansans. IMHO they were equally good choices — maybe a bit less downside potential with Biden and a bit more upside potential with Sebelius.
Weird comment.
I wouldn’t see a Sebelius appointment to anything as an indication of some kind of progressivism.
As to Daschle, Obama owes his presidency to him more than any other single individual, so his initial appointment means nothing ideologically since it simply Daschle’s reward.
Of the three VPs that Obama considered (Biden, Bayh, and Kaine), he clearly picked the one with the least to offer in the Electoral College and the, by far, most liberal instincts. Yes, I know that Biden has a very mixed record as a drug warrior and champion of bankruptcy reform, but compare him to Bayh and Kaine and it isn’t close.
People forgive Gore for selecting Lieberman, but they don’t need to forgive Obama for selecting Bayh. And who remembers Lloyd Bentsen?
How did my comment suggest to you that I viewed Sebelius as a progressive? (Sebelius was on Obama’s VP list and is more liberal than either Bayh or Kaine.) Would prefer Sebelius at Commerce to Penny Pritzker.
I think Biden’s choice primarily was for his long standing relationships in the Senate and his ability to leverage those relationships into successful legislation. That goal seems to have been met. Also for the experience in foreign matters that Obama was perceived to be needing when he ran. That Obama has often disregared Biden’s views is interesting in that context.
IMHO the primary consideration for a VP is that she/he and the POTUS nominee are comfortable with each other and appear to be a team. Obama/Biden passed that test. Romney/Ryan and McCain/Palin didn’t. Nor did Kerry/Edwards or Gore/Lieberman.
I actually think it was him NOT getting the HHS position that led to many of the problems Obama had ramming the deal through. Given that Dasche was widely regarded as knowing the inner workings of the Senate more than just about anybody I think had he been on board he would have nipped the “Gang of 6’s” dithering in the bud before the disastrous August 2009 recess. He would have had the Senate savvy to say to people like Baucus what do you need for us to buy your vote? Thrown that in the legislation and had the thing all but signed before the Senate broke for their August recess. It wouldn’t have been pretty but it would have been a lot less of a mess than what actually happened.
I like Seibulus but she didn’t have the Senate knowledge that was needed to get the deal done. That said she had the insurance industry knowledge, so after the ACA became law I would have transitioned Daschle out and Seibulus in.
I am sad to see Kathleen Sebelius go. Always liked her. She does bear some responsibility for the website failure, and that Jeffrey Zientz came in and turned it around quickly speaks to some shortcomings. But she was a battler and did a lot of grunt work. Here in Oregon, where the website still does not work, Kitzhaber must take some blame for poor management and an apparent lack of control over what was a huge undertaking. His lieutents failed him, but a lot of decisions seem to not have been made in a businesslike manner. So too would the head of HHS take the heat. But she battled R’s and other hurdles with grace and ultimately contributed to the winning team. Hats off to her.
Thank goodness for Ms. Burwell, At last our most prestigious Ivy League universities will have at least some token representation in the Obama administration.
</snsrk>
The number of smart, talented, experienced people in this country who did not go to Harvard, Yale, Columbia, or Princeton vastly exceeds the number who did. Somebody should drop the President a note or something. And cc Ms. Clinton.
Hanging the political problems of Obamacare all on Sibelius is a bit of a stretch for even the problems with healthcare.gov were a result of the Supreme Court decision and the legislation that allowed states to opt out of exchanges. The whole political mess can be laid at the feet of Max Baucus and other Democrats in Congress for buying the bipartisan bullcrap of the Washington establishment as an excuse to turn the Obama win into a reversal of course. So where we are now is having substituted Joe Lieberman with Angus King.
Given the 2100 pages of legislation that Sibelius had to work with and the constantly changing political and legal status of implementation in the states, Sibelius should be thanked that the GOP did not succeed in their complete sabotage of the bill after four solid years of unceasing effort. Damning her with faint praise is totally uncalled for.
And the timing of her resignation was well chosen as well. After six years of enduring GOP crap, she must be tired. And IMO Kansas is about to turn, having had enough of Mr. Brownback.
If 2016 opens up and turns into a bit of a Democratic donnybrook, Sibelius might be in the group and could possibly be anyone’s Vice-Presidential pick. By then the fires of Obamacare will be mere coals and the idea of repeal considered nonsense.
Or instead, she might take on Jerry Moran if the Kansas Brownback Backlash continues.
I’m not sure what another OMB’er brings to the table at HHS except maybe capitulation on “entitlements”.
The President and the Democrats seem hidebound and determined to lose the Congress in 2014. Progressives are likely to come to the establishment’s assistance in that enterprise.
But Sibelius is not your scapegoat on this one. She got through a very complicated and difficult program implementation on schedule and on target. Now it’s the job of the cost-controls (already sabotaged this year by Congress) to deliver the reductions in health care costs promised in 2008.
the Act is tainted because of a fucking website glitch?
7.5 million and counting.
THAT is how the law is perceived.