Did the First Lady dis the president?

In a Politico story about President Obama’s efforts to organize a successful enrollment process for Obamacare starting on Oct. 1, the last sentence in that report stopped me in my tracks.

The closing paragraphs are based on a Politico interview with Joe Madison, a prominent black talk-radio host, who attended a private White House reception on Obamacare implementation.

Here is what Carrie Budoff Brown wrote:

“Madison lobbied Michelle Obama at the reception, saying he had been trying to get the president on his show to talk about health care and other issues.

“She suggested Madison might be able to do better.

“’Forget him,’” Michelle Obama said, according to Madison. “’We got to get together.’”

Wow. Did the First Lady brush aside her husband in such a disparaging way?

Joe Madison

Madison is an Obama supporter and Michelle has been on his nationally broadcast show in the past.  So, there is somewhat of a bond there. 

Still … "Forget him" -- ??

The reception on Tuesday featured an A-list group of African Americans, including Oprah Winfrey, actor Forest Whitaker, music producer Berry Gordy, and entertainer and activist Dick Gregory. Madison was invited because he fits in with the president’s plan to get the word out in the black community about the Affordable Care Act sign-up process.

“I would suspect some of them would be asked by the White House to use their celebrity status to pitch for ACA,” Madison told Politico. “And clearly the president appears to be in this pre-ACA campaign mode. He wanted to get it on people’s minds and get them at least thinking about it. When would he have a better of opportunity than at this gathering?”

Eighteen predictions from 50 years ago that were stunningly accurate

The folks at Buzzfeed tracked down predictions made in 1964 by science fiction writer Isaac Asimov about what the year 2014 will look like, and the accuracy of those forecasts are so spot-on that it’s almost creepy.

Looking 50 years into the future, Asimov correctly predicted microwave dinners and home coffee makers for people on the go; stationary satellites in space that would allow people to dial up anyone anywhere on the planet; escalators that will move people quickly on their way; and cordless electronic appliances and gadgets.

Asimov in 1965

Among his many prognostications, perhaps the most stunning was a prediction that had nothing to do with technology but accurately assessed the future world and U.S. populations. He foresaw 6.5 billion people across the globe in 2014 and 350 million in America. Nailed it.

Buzzfeed points out that Asimov made his predictions in the context of what people might see at the World’s Fair 50 years hence. And they reach this conclusion:

“It’s worth noting that, while quite impressive, Asimov didn’t get everything right. 2014 will most surely come and go without ‘jets of compressed air [that] will lift land vehicles off the highways.’ He also predicted that the entire East Coast from Boston to Washington would merge into one large mega city, which seems unlikely at this point in time. But perhaps the most telling (and disheartening) is Asimov’s inaccurate notion that we’d even have a World’s Fair in 2014.”

Say what? Barack Obama boosted the price of my home?

 

One of the least-noticed failures of the Obama administration centers on the series of attempts to revive the housing market through government intervention programs.

At least three attempts by the White House to aid those facing foreclosure during the housing crisis had very little impact. Yet, now that the real estate market is reviving, President Obama is disingenuously taking credit for the upturn.

The White House earlier this week put out a lengthy summary, state by state, detailing improvements in the market and suggesting that federal programs were partially responsible for the turnaround.

What’s also a bit disturbing is the curious timing. Though the housing market has been rising over the past year, the White House chose Tuesday for this press release -- at the same time when the president surely had better things to focus on: the crisis in Syria, immigration reform, a possible budget deal, and the potential of a Republican-induced government shutdown.

Meanwhile, the president’s PR staff was busy pumping out nonsense like this:  “3,463 homeowners in Michigan have received (mortgage) principal reduction in conjunction with their HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program) modification, with a median principal reduction of more than $40,000 per homeowner.”

What they don’t mention is that there are approximately 2.8 million homes in Michigan.

Earlier this month, Obama announced yet another series of programs to help homeowners refinance their mortgage or take other steps to avoid foreclosure. At this point in the housing industry's upward cycle, it’s hard to believe these efforts will have any noticeable impact.

Nonetheless, the press release celebrates the jump in Michigan home prices and building permits and the substantial drop in foreclosures.

Great. My home’s value is certainly much higher than in 2009. But don’t tell me that Barack Obama made that happen.

More misinformation -- Medicaid expansion not a permanent decision

By Chad Selweski
chad.selweski@macombdaily.com; @cbsnewsman
Wednesday, August 28,2013

As Republican conservatives and tea party activists rail against state Senate approval for a Medicaid expansion, it appears that one of the primary criticisms of the legislation was based on false information.
Many Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate had argued forcefully for months that the federal government may renege on its promise to provide most or all of the expanded Medicaid funding for health care coverage. Critics in the state Capitol said that Washington could pull the plug, leaving Michigan with huge financial burdens to fund the broader version of Medicaid planned under the White House’s Obamacare plan.

But a key health care reform expert, plus Snyder administration officials, say that Michigan can immediately bow out of the Medicaid plan if lawmakers believe the federal government is not living up to its promises.
“States can opt in or opt out of the expansion at any time,” said Jennifer Tolbert, a policy analyst for the nonprofit, nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation research organization.
In fact, U.S. Health and Human Services guidelines have specified that no state is locked into a Medicaid expansion for the “working poor,” no matter the political or fiscal circumstances in the future.

The Snyder administration asserts that is has been trying to shoot down claims by lawmakers about signing on to an expensive health care plan that could drop some or all of the costs into the lap of Michigan legislators — and ultimately the taxpayers.
“That is one of the myths we have been trying to combat,” said Angela Minicuci, spokeswoman for the state Department of Community Health. “There are a number of misconceptions about this legislation.”

As the 20-18 Senate vote on Tuesday in favor of the Medicaid expansion appears to have eliminated the last political hurdle, some legislators may want to do some Monday morning quarterbacking to determine if the bitter fight over the legislation was based on a false premise. The idea that this was a landmark vote with far-reaching implications may have been off the mark.
The Obama administration is offering 100 percent funding for expanding the state’s Medicaid coverage to families at 133 percent or less of the federal poverty level — or $26,900 annual income for a family of three. That promise will gradually slide to a 90 percent commitment in 2020 and is expected to remain at that level for the foreseeable future.

Tolbert, a key expert at Kaiser, one of a small group of research groups that has been labeled an objective source of information on Obamacare, said that the only penalty paid by the Michigan Legislature if it pulled out a year from now would be a political one — offering and then rescinding low-cost health care coverage for 470,000 poor Michigan residents.
The same false argument that the federal government would lock in Medicaid expansions was used in a number of Republican-dominated states, according to Tolbert. She said some of the claims were unintentionally misleading, while other cases “it was willful to put forward a political argument.”

As the Michigan House prepares to grant final approval to the Medicaid plan as early as Tuesday, embracing the Senate’s revised version of a House bill passed in June, one major issue remains.
Democratic advocates of the new Medicaid system want to encourage the House and Senate to muster two-thirds supermajorities to give the bill immediate effect. If that fails, the new system would not kick in until 90 days after the start of the new year in 2014.

Big lineup from business, politics and sports trumpets Detroit on MSNBC’s 'Morning Joe'

The “Morning Joe” program on MSNBC broadcast from 6 to 9 a.m. today from the Ford assembly plant in Flat Rock, with a parade of Detroit’s “Who’s Who” interviewed  with the Ford Fusion assembly line as a backdrop.

Those who took part included Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander, Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, Ford CEO Alan Mulally, Quicken Loans billionaire Dan Gilbert, Detroit Lions President Tom Lewand, builder and Detroit Blight Authority leader Bill Pulte, and Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce President Sandy Baruah.

If you’re wondering, Verlander talked about his $1 million donation to help wounded veterans, not his struggles on the pitching mound.

The theme of the show was summed up by Gilbert, who now owns 35 buildings downtown and who spoke from a bustling Campus Martius: “It doesn’t look like bankruptcy down here.”