Last year, which estimated 7 million folks would a role in role. They had no idea that the website would be dysfunctional for two months. With that, we surpasses projections. In role america does not spend a lot of time analyzing projections are weighing out what we think how many people might enroll. We are focused on eating as many people through the door as possible and educating them. I was in the room on monday when i heard secretary burwell talking to the way they approach this estimate. To me, it struck me as thoughtful and pragmatic and analytical. I think that is exactly what they should be doing at this point. It does seem reasonable. Our concern is not exactly what the estimates are of what could happen. Our focus is on who is out there, had we get them the facts so that consumers have the resources they need. In term of signups, was on extended window this year for Health Care Plans in 2014. Do you think there will be an extended sign up window at the beginning of 2016. With that be helpful . Bit of a twoweek extension at the end of the enrollment. That was for folks who had begun the process. Perhaps they will decide to do that again this year. We are really focused on the three month ahead. We want to make sure we maximize every moment. Do you think the administration should extend it. . With the holidays, the winter, it is ill suited to doing what they have to do, to get 3 Million People signed up in a threemonth window. That is worth considering for future enrollment periods. It is a busy time. It is in the midst of the holidays. That does provide some challenges for groups like an role america. We often think about the threemonth enrollment. Outreach around this next enrollment frame as soon as the previous enrollment frame ended. We have doing this work for many months. These are the three months that we have to get folks three through through the door. Leadership since last year and a department. Im wondering since you have observed her management style, how would you describe that compared with her predecessors . Do you think she is a better leader . Secretary civilians and secretary burwell are two women i have tremendous respect for. An anoung woman who is in executive position, i think there is a lot to admire about both of them. Meretary burwell has struck in the meetings ive had with her that her focus is on management, focus on getting to the specifics about how we make sure that this is a successful enrollment. I think she is a great leader. I also thought secretaries of bilious was a great leader. Secretary sibelius was a great leader as well. You think that youd need to do more next year to make sure or do you think this is to be expected . Aidarly on, when that million number was out there, there was a lot of criticism who said those mains of people are not paying for their plans. They suggested that it was going to be far fewer than 7. 1 million. I think this is part of the natural process. Folks that are starting, injuring the Insurance Market for the first time who perhaps have not had Health Insurance, there was always expected to be dropoff. It is an important opportunity for all of us doing this work it is not just about making sure folks in role. We want to make sure they maintain that coverage. This is where there is an Important Role of Health Insurance literacy. How do we help consumers to choose the plan that is best for them. Also to help for them how to use that plan. That is the best way to make sure that they maintain that coverage. That an rolehing america has made a priority in the past few months. A lot of different organizations are doing the same thing. We know that the Obama Administration is focused on raising enrollment among latinos. There is a problem communicating with this population. Many people speak spanish and feel if they were to enroll in the exchanges, some of the relatives who might not be in the country legally could be deported. Our sure group communicating with this population and heavy change your tactics and or . The latino population is the really important part of our focus and outreach. Who gainedok at coverage in that last enrollment. A disparity gap, they still are at the top. This is an important part of the work we do. The most effective way to reach this population is to have a presence in communities, to empower trusted voices to get the word out to latino consumers and make sure that it is not just about advertisements, but it is about leaders and Small Business owners and local elected officials and Community Health centers spreading the word. Approach from the start, and we are doubling down on that, is to empower the trusted voices to let folks know that you dont have to worry about that. This is about getting you and your family affordable coverage. Weve seen a lot of success with that. Holdingkend, we will be over 20 Different National latino enrollment assignments across the country. It is very communitybased. It will be in communities with high concentrations of the uninsured, particularly within the latino community, to bring these groups together and bring them the facts. How are groups like an role america going to be communicating . We know a lot of uninsured consumers have a big information gap. The most effective message we found to reach consumers is to talk about the Financial Assistance available. Last year, of those that are rolled in coverage, 85 of them got financial help. This is also the thing that most uninsured consumers know of is available. That is always going to be where we are focusing our messaging. Finds, that of the is something we will communicate to consumers. Part of that to me is about delivering the facts to folks. All the controversy around the Affordable Care act, it has been hard for every day folks to get the basics about what this means for them, the opportunities and consequences. That will be part of what we communicate with consumers. It is a fact they should know. We were always start the conversation with these really great opportunities that are available to them. We talk about the about theies, what Supreme Court taking d ling with the tax credits. If youre talking to somebody who is looking to enroll and concerned about the Supreme Court case, what are you telling them . Im glad you frame the question that way. That is the most important thing. As we are headed into this enrollment. , what does it mean for consumers . Nothing has changed for consumers. There are many people who have gotten Financial Assistance. Enrollment frame, there are millions of people who have not enrolled. We are making sure that consumers have the peace of mind to know that this is there for them. Yearsing up to last open enrollment. , we saw white house officials and Administration Officials crisscrossing the country, touting the exchanges. It is very quiet on both of those fronts this year. Take adering if you can more active role in marketing the exchanges . We communicate and coordinate with the administration a number of other groups. They have demonstrated a lot of commitment to enroll america. We are talking about having a presence in the community, working with local elected officials and local celebrities we may not see here in washington, d. C. My understanding is that we will see a lot more out of them on the National Level in the few months. I think we can expect a lot there. We will get the word out. I will also say that we go back to the point of that there are millions of people who did not enroll in the first enrollment. There is a Massive Campaign to get the word out. If that is the case, if they did not know what was available to them then, they need to be thinking about ways to communicate to them. We found that more often than not that that is happening on the local level. It is not about a big national campaign. A presence building in communities, getting trusted voices out there, partnering with local tv stations. That is something that is harder to track at the National Level. That is how we reach the consumers that need this information and to take the steps to enroll. One of the issues that does seem to be coming up as people who even if they do find out about the tax credits that are available, they are finding that it is out of reach for them. They are somewhere in between, with the tax credit is a discount, and they are committing the income to other things. Is them Health Insurance available, but they arent paying for because they dont perceive it to be affordable. Is there an argument out there that there should be cheaper available to people. One of the big issues that we were facing before the Affordable Care act was that consumers that had plans that were maybe credit affordable and they seem at a great deal, and then something what wrong, and it turned out the plans did not cover what they thought it would. That was a major issue for a lot of americans. Part of what the aca is trying to do is address that. The requirements out there for insurance plans to make sure that you will not be in that position is really to the benefit of consumers. This is the first year that the exchanges will be enrolling as well as reenrolling consumers, you expressed this week that that was a concern for you, how local groups will message to people about the difference. What advice are you giving to them . What is it that you are nervous about . The main thing is that this year we have to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. That is how we like to talk about it. We need to get the word out to means of people who did not enroll the first time. To reacharder population than those that we were in touch with last year. On the other hand, we need to help those that enrolled last your make sure they have the facts they need to renew their coverage. I think it is easy when you are doing this work to stumble on that, to think how does our messaging need to be fundamentally different between this two audiences. From enroll americas perspective, it does not need to be different. We are encouraging Partner Organizations to use a simple framework, get covered, stay covered, that helps all consumers the matter what category they fit in. You should check out the Financial Assistance available to you. That is true for those enrolling for the first time, and also important for those renewing coverage. We know that if theyre in that perhapsanged they are eligible for a different amount of Financial Assistance. For everybody, that is the first of you should take. Then you have the chance to shop around for plans. Again, that is true for those that are enrolling for the first time, but for those that are a 25 ng, there are increase and the number of Insurance Companies offering plans on the marketplace this year. For folks that have coverage, they might even find a better option. The third step is to choose your plan and enroll. If you are happy with the plan you have, if you like a different one, you can do that as well. When you frame it that way, it helps people understand that we can actually talk about this in a way that does not confuse consumers, the does not complicate things, and that is where something on the back in is a public it a policy issued where we are encouraging people that how we share information with consumers stay straightforward. You may have Better Options at one of the things we reported this week is that the influx of new carriers, which is a good thing for competition, and the desire to offer lower prices to undercut bigger carriers, especially having an effect on consumers, it would be that premiums increase in the substance the subsidy goes down. Its not just a question of getting a better option. If they dont come back to the site, they will be worse off than they were before. Is that a concern for you . That may be possible for some consumers. Yourback, check at options, make sure you update your information, and look at what is available to you. The reality is that it is fundamentally good news for consumers that more Insurance Companies are offering plans for them. There are more options for consumers. That is than their best interest. Health officials have touted their improvements to healthcare. Gov. Streamlinedore application process. Have you gone to the application yourself . And they previewed it for you . What can you tell us about the changes . I have seen a preview. Thing that was noticeable for me is that is a much more streamlined application. Sometimes consumers went through the process and they would have to reenter information that they entered a few screens back. This year, it looks a little bit different for different consumers because the application process is built to accommodate your specific situation. For a lot of consumers, they will see the number of screens reduced from 76 down to 16. That speaks to how much more streamlined this is, how much more userfriendly it is. The other thing to know is that we always talk about the website, how userfriendly that is, we found that a lot of consumers really want in person assistance, no matter how userfriendly that website is. That is something i want to make sure we dont lose track of. Assistancen person prepared to assist him with the process. In person assistant and enrollment groups had a lot riding on the website the president said that was nobody was angrier than he was. Of people onlot the ground who were also angry. Our people this year confident that things will be better and their hard work will you be backed up by technology that works . Yes, folks feel good about where we stand. We expect that there may be some glitches. When you are headed into a big threemonth. Like this, whether it is about technology, how its going to come together on the ground, the reality is that anything this big end this important is going to have some bugs along the way. The coalition is ready for that. I will say that last year in october and november, when the website was not functioning well, it was incredibly frustrating. We also knew that there was a lot that we could do regardless. There was a lot of outrage that needed to happen to consumers. That this wasnt thats where we really learned that this is not about you get someone the information and they are ready to sit down and fill out the application and its a onetime conversation the reality is it takes a lot of contact and followup. Year,g thing for us last even in that worstcase scenario, where the website was not working, you have plenty to do. We have confidence that the website would come back and that as long as it did, we would have consumers ready to go to the process. You bring that same perspective to the next few months. Of course you are not expecting anything of that level, but we will be prepared if there are any problems along the way. Is the website around this time around with the new enrollment and the reenrollment yes. That is an area that we have worked to expand capacity for the website so that if there are most more folks coming through. Last year they really spent several days testing. Im wondering about enroll americas efforts apart from the outreach, digital advertisements. Can you tell us how the strategy has changed this year . I have focused a lot mentioned the growing number of partners we have. Maintain our direct to consumer outreach, but we also wanted to double down in the work to support other groups. I mentioned the rolling list of partners in our coalition. We also worked to develop tools that could help consumers and also help other organizations. A great example of this is our get covered connector, which is basically a tool that they can or callo to our website our local hotline where they can schedule unemployment on the spot. They can find the in person assistance available. Instead of having to look it up long list of the sisters, they connection he find the available women that is closest to them and scheduled on the spot. Best practiceon a that we saw in North Carolina last year where they had a lot of success. It is a great tool for consumers. It is also a great tool for the groups that are doing work on this. It allows the coalition of inperson the sisters to really pool their resources. They can really function as one unit. Of ais one great example tool that we really focused on developing. It certainly helps the work of enroll america. Its army helps consumers. It also helps other organizations to be even more effective and efficient in their own work. Just a minute or two left. We have the last question. I want to come back to the Supreme Court case. Part of the law is headed to the Supreme Court. I relies you are in a different capacity i wonder if you envision that the opposition would be so sustained in specific, going after a different piece each time, with some success in chipping away pieces. It is certainly true that opponents of the law have not slowed down in their efforts. It is amazing how much they have sustain that effort. What strikes me is that in the face of that, in the face of all the controversy, in the face of the confusion that can come out of that, over 16 million americans since last year when the open enrollment began, they enrolled in coverage to the marketplace, medicaid, and chip area that is in a norm us statement about the power of the aca. To me there is nothing stronger than that reality. That truth is what motivates us and the work that we do and allows us to get the word out to more consumers as we go forward. We are out of time. Thank you for being on newsmaker this week. Thank you. My pleasure. Back with our reporters. I will start with you about the expectations being played here. Some of her comments about where the bar is being set. We are hearing lowered expectations from the Obama Administration. That said, one of the things they seem to be overlooking is of the people that picked plans 7year, only sell million have coverage. On the expectation gains. A quote from Marsha Blackburn this past week, the administration is trying to rewrite its definition of success with the president s signature law. Can you talk about the politics . Republicans will come after the Obama Administration if it wants to switch the expectations. It remains a political issue on capitol hill. With the republicans pose to take control of the senate, we are likely to see hearings on both the enrollment issue itself, the numbers, and technical a glitches that arise with the website. It is interesting that they came out this week with numbers that are lower than the previous projections. Of the heat off of groups like enroll america and allows him to go about their work with less pressure. We have a very up eat enrollment rejection up the enrollment production upbeat enrollment projection. Why dont you think she said that . Im curious. I would like to follow up with her. Enroll america is in a position is being both an advocate for the Obama Administration and an advocate for consumers. Those roles are in tension when it comes to the signup. It would be a boon for it to be extended. About the moreer affordable options than those currently available on the exchanges. She did not get behind that. A lot of consumer groups like ours have called for. Theyll watch and see how navigate these things. We will see how the healthcare. Gov website runs. There are a number of arguments for a longer signup. Taxeseople who file their are going to discover that theyre not only paying a they are going to pay another penalty again. What we have heard from people on the ground, groups active in the communities of enroll america, this is something they really badly want to see. I think there will be some surprise as to why enroll america is not pushing the administration more aggressively for that, even though they have the knowledge it was helpful. Were kind of position does the Supreme Court case put enroll america and . There are two conflicting opinions. I dont know what you have heard. On the one hand, groups are confident that most consumers have heard about the case, and therefore the tax credits will not be uppermost on their minds. On the other hand, there is a concern that there is a cloud over the enrollment. Now. This could be hard to persuade millions of people to get policies. They could go away. I will also say that with the Supreme Court taking up this case, we syrian figuration and opposition to the law. That was obviously before the Supreme Court decided to pick up the case. We have a lot of activity from republican surrounding this case. Its hard to see what the consequences could be for open enrollment. At the same time, the Obama Administration is looking to cap down as much controversy as possible. It could invalidate millions of dollars in subsidies. Thats all the time we have for this week. We appreciate your time, questions, and your insights. Monday night on the wu on how to, 10 manage the internet. In the big picture, we have broadband,n about how would they fed it. Title to does give the agency more power to try to do things like mandate universal service, like we did for Telephone Service back in the 20 century. It collects money, which right rurales to subsidize Telephone Service. That could be a position to try to create rural broadband. A future president or fcc chairman could say that we need a universal Service Program and people all over the country need to have broadband. Monday night and ate 00 eastern on the communicators, on cspan2. Next, Washington Post opinion writer with a discussion on the Midterm Election results. Guests include a republican strategist, democratic strategist, and a political reporter. This was hosted by georgetown university. It is one hour and a half. I will make for observations and then open up the discussion to the panel. I will ask a few questions and we will try to bring the audience in as quickly as we can. We will have a couple of microphones on either side of the audience. I may ask if we have a lot of hands, i will ask people to ask a few questions at a time, which allows are distinguished panel to evade any question they feel like evading. T. Quicker observations one, this was a big republican win. There is no way for democrats to sugarcoat it. Massachusetts,f maryland, and illinois all it elected republican governors. There is no way for democrats to sugarcoat that. There were only seveneights states left with all democratic governments. Governments plus both houses of the state legislatures. Two thirds are now in the hands of republicans. The 2010 election, it was the other way around. We are talking about a substantial republican victory. Second observation, anemic turnout. Michael mcdonnell, who studies isse things very closely estimated that turnout in this election is 36. 4 that is down from 40. 9 in 2010. There were a lot of turned off and deem immortalized voters. They seem to be disproportionally democratic. If you want some evidence of the democrats who stayed home, just washington, d. C. , maryland, and virginia. It was way down from four years ago, not from the president ial election. Senator warner had a much closer race than he anticipated because of one of the key factors was a drop in democratic turnout right over the river and fairfax and other areas like that. They did well in the referendum, but it did not do well in the election. Four states passed minimum wage increases, background checks. There seemed no connection between those victories in the election. The last point is in a way bad news for each party. The continued huge disconnect between midterm turnouts and president ial election turnouts. This is complicated news for the republicans because it says they cannot count on this victory to mean a victory in the next president ial election, but i also think its come to getting news for democrats because they cannot figure out how to turnout midterm voters, they will be on the short end and although , all thend 37 of them state legislative seats and in congress. They both have a lot to think about. I want to go down the panel. That is about all im going to say, other than forceful and ejections here and there. Maggie, on a, and then paul. Paul has the most explain to do. Very simpleswer question, what the heck happened on tuesday . Thank you for having me here. I think that you covered most of it. Tonink that there is not a that is determinative towards 2016. There are a couple of things if im looking at longerterm impacts of what happened here, but yes, what happened is that they thought they could use the ground game that they perfected and 2012 and 2000 ate to bolster turnout in the midterm year. That did not turn out to be true. There is a tremendous anger with government. I think that obama became the main focus for it. One of the Interesting Data points for me in the polling leading up to election day was that you had governors in states like florida for whom Health Care Reform was a positive. It was positive for Charlie Crist. Yet obamacare was a terrible negative. I think what you saw in this obamacares the phrase has come to mean Big Government overreach, something beyond what it actually is. That is what people are protesting against. There is tremendous voter frustration and anger. This was not just antiincumbent, it was antidemocratic. Antiincumbent was 2012. I think that is what happened. The other thing that happened and this is something the polling community will have to figure out. That was where the public polling was really off. The public polling turned out in retrospect to have been right leading into this midterm. You had a lot of states with a large percentage of undecideds vote republican. The internals on both sides were not great. Ed gillespies internals did not have them anywhere as near as close in virginia. I know that in the main governors race, democrats seem like there are doing much better. I know that Charlie Crist internals have been doing much better. Likes because of things early vote counts, absentee vote counts in florida, ground game indicators, they thought this was going their way, the democrats. I think the samples were totally wrong. Ut two weeks ago, a set they said you can start to see everything going south. I dont know why the modeling was so wrong, but it was. What is your take on this election . Argue my take on the republican side, on what the republicans did differently this time than 2010. We did not run Richard Murdoch and todd a can. That really helped. To my first point, which is that republican entities, republicans, the chamber of congress, the senatorial committee, they got involved this time in primaries, which they had been hesitant to do in 2010. They let the organic thing happened, which led to bad candidates that could not get elected. This time they fought, put they, ran campaigns, worked hard to get who they thought were the most best electable candidates. Second thing is, i think republicans improved. We realize that we were in the caveman era, sometime around when dinosaurs ruled the earth, where as democrats were way out ahead, put a lot of resources into that. Republicans this time fought back against democrats. In 2010 and 2012, like a deer caught in the headlights, we did not know what to do. Anything whenay you have the burden of todd akin and Richard Murdoch on your back. Also, Opposition Research. Republicans got into the game big time. Organizationw called America Rising which should get a lot of credit in this election. The elections, more than a couple, were decided because of Opposition Research that was unearthed by this organization. Bruce braley getting caught dissing farmers. Or the Alison Grimes memory that they sat on for months and tell it was the right time to release it, which showed an incredible discipline. Thing. Not one it was a lot of things. It was also a good night because it was a repudiation of obama. Those are the things that republicans did right. Heres what happened. I agree with all this. Thank you for having me here. I love it. I echo what was said about military students. Extraordinary. Thank you. I did not finish the boy scouts. I come from a long line of cowards. The people who allow me to run my mouth i am particularly grateful to. These waves come. I have written them up and down. And up is good. Usually it is about some overriding issue. 1994, we raised taxes, integrated gays in the military, past gun control, and try to pass universal hair health care. In 2006, when there was another eighth, it was about the warner act. Final firehe donald rumsfeld. He got it. This is about obama. This is about obama personally. Not an issue of in agenda. It is two sides. On my side, their israel disappointment. That drove the collapse in turnout. Percent whenrom 53 and on election day, his favorable was better in the polls that had been, it was 44 . One in five. They lost faith in him. Its fine to random rave about the tea party. The truth is if he held his own, he would have one or the democrats would have one. You first have to look it yourself. What it we done wrong. How lovely alienated one in five obama voters. He did Say Something telling drove usaid the voters off the cliff yesterday. I hope he did. President ials are so different from the midterm. Here is why. A vote for president is that active selfdefinition. It is to you are. It really defines you. I voted for barack obama by god. This is repeated millions of times. People in the middle who took a leap of faith on this guy. The second term has been atrocious for him. Those voters paid to. Not just on the issue agenda. On the republican side, they did a good job of nationalizing the race. 34 of the advertising was about obama. Obamacare is not doing great. It was about obama. Haveense that republicans isthe case they are making not even liberal like it was with clinton in 1994. It is weak. I dont think it has been talked about enough. I think the beginning of the second term for obama was about a month later. We had that horrible slaughter. The president stepped up and put forward a gun control bill. Pretty modest. Much smaller than what clinton passed in the 90s. That had 92 popular support. And themcconnell senator republican said we will kill it. They did. When you can take on a newly reelected president , pushing an issue that has 92 support if you can take him on and beat his ass, you never need fear him again. The message from the voters was we reward gridlock. The cajon these on a guy to take on the gun bill embedded. Voters did not say i hate gridlock and partisanship. They did not. That is an important lesson for people like me to get, but also the republicans. Mitch mcconnell said all the right things after the election. Now we will work after this president. I hope he does. Party, it is difficult to run around a country and make the whole election about obama and then cooperate with obama. I hope they are wrong. I do think it was a rejection of gridlock. The reason you saw low turnout was because there is this malaise and people are sick of government in general. The guy in charge is president obama. The buck stops with him. Hes the one that pays the piper. Look at congress and see Republican House and a Democratic Senate for the last two years that has done nothing but stick their tongues out at each other. It is getting tiring for them. Out there in america. We tried it this way. It did not work. Now let strike this way. I also think people are wary of government overreach. I think that is a narrative that has taken hold in america. I hope that the message that republicans get is that it was not a vote for gridlock. If it had been a vote for gridlock, i think the republicans would have gotten out of the primary. The chamber of commerce candidates won because they became tea party candidates. No. Let me interrupt. Im not a good christmassy is. Chris matthews. There is no such thing. [laughter] it seems to me that the evidence is that in fact the Republican Voters were there to vote against obama and the democrats were the one who were dissatisfied with what was happening in washington, which is why they did not vote. Thats what polls with suggested heres a question to all of you. It seems to me the democrats got stuck in two ways on the question of president obama. There was a lot to brag about if you were talking about a drop in the unemployment, where the economy , a when obama took over rising stock market, we are much better off now than when we started. However, it democrats were petrified of saying anything of that because there were so may voters whose wages werent moving. It does not offer much of a plan for those voters either. It seems to me democrats were tonguetied on that and obama. If everybody is attacking the president , and the responses, im not him, there is not much of an argument going on about the president. It seems to me that the dialogue of the campaign was utterly dominated by the republicans. Democrats talk themselves into silence practically. That is exactly right. I agree everything with paul said. I think your diagnosis is correct. The democrats did not turn out. One of the most telling moments in the Kentucky Senate race was when Alison Grimes would not say whether or not she voted for obama. That was terrible for her. That speaks to what you are talking about. Democrats ended up distancing themselves from obama and not offering a future vision or holistic message about where they wanted to take the country. Instead, i lot of tactics, individualized targeting. A lot of stuff about womens issues and economic issues. Of very small bore economic discussion that because there were too many voters who dont feel like the economic recovery is benefiting them, it was hard for democrats to make this case, not to jump ahead, this is where i do think that the launchpad for the discussion for 2016 is going to be. Onsaw a couple of things tuesday, one of which, and i wrote about this, there is a huge correlation between the amount of negative ads that you saw on every one of these races and everybodys favorable or unfavorable going down. Was either at who 50 or certainly above 50 in terms of incumbents. These races to the bottom have become the norm. I do think people are turned off i it. By it. Turned off for the democrats, there is going be an impetus to come up with a broader economic message about what you just mentioned, how to fix it, growing out the middle class. It has to be more forwardlooking than what we saw in the midterms. I agree with that. You to saye to ask what kind of campaign you would have run if you had been a democrat. I want to ask paul, if you have been on president obamas staff six months ago, what would you have told him to do differently . What kind of campaign would you have run . Way it comes out this seen thatould have republicans were going to make obama the albatross around their neck. They all seemed illprepared to deal with that attack. Maggie just talked about the kentucky race. It was all over the country where they were just graham just rambling and doing this tap dancing that screamed lack of leadership. They shouldve figured out the obama piece and how to spend it in a positive fashion. Yes, they ran on making obama the bad guy. They got the most help from democrats. They turned it into a selffulfilling prophecy. Obama, resident they may not have gotten the guidelines for the quarantine it lookedenough like a political quarantine the last six hyphenate months, when nobody wanted to be seen. When youre rejecting the guy, what you expect the message voters are going to get is. That is where they went wrong. They shouldve seen this coming. There were caught unprepared. They needed to say, yes, he is our guy. We disagree on things. You saw the secretary that is an academic term. Instead of defending barack obama, he went out there and said look, republicans are telling you elect me first six years because we want to promise obama for the next two years. I never heard bill clinton defend obama. Are you going to give somebody a sixyear job because you want to punish somebody else for two years . I thought, ok, this is not working for them now. What utility president obama six months ago . I did agree with maggie. This piece about obama should have campaign more, this is nuts. I never said he should have campaign more. He needed to stay the hell off the campaign trail. He won maryland by 26 points. Connecticut. It was a dead heat. It would have done no good and more harm. In fact, the few times he did , a guy gifted with kennedy in the modern era that is not what you say. You say i am not on the ballot. You are. Be discriminated against in the workplace of your a room a if you are a woman. This is one of one. When he said that, was that a reflection of him being in a funk . I dont know. What would you have done, paul. If you had been there and he would have asked you, what should i do. Was theriginal sin failure on guns. I know he tried his hardest. Him as a citizen for taking out on. You touch a king, you kill a king. You better make sure you win. That began it. The best politics is the best policy. Obamacare, the most Important Initiative of his presidency, rolled out before this midterm last year, and it was a disaster. If you cannot run that capably, you can expect to run a campaign on it. You had a huge, shameful crisis in the v. A. His stylethat, it was of leadership your they believe he is too reactive and week. He gets to the right place on ebola, but he seemed to get there late, and he seemed to get there in a much more quiet way. I got really angry when we had the border crisis and the children were flooding the texasmexico border, and he would not go down there. I was at mile high stadium. Set that looked like it was left over from the movie curricula. Dont tell me he does not do optics. There because you learn stuff that the bureaucracy does not hell you because you ask he talked of Border Control folks. You educate the country. He was talking about other immigrants. Steves problems with immigrants. This is not tactic. Its actual leadership. You have to get in front of these things. Part of the problem is that he is surrounded by a lot of people in the white house who say that he does not do theater. Our friend said liggins reagans last day in office. Of it is theater. Ask Franklin Delano roosevelt. Thread this is ultimately the case. The white house and ive never been clear candidly after all these years what is the president s he remains an inscrutable figure. There was a fundamental ministry on what the real election meant. One of the things that has been really striking, how the democrats should of figured out how to deal with obama and accept the good of him. The relationship between Senate Democrats and the white the reln democrats and the white house adjusted. Rated in the lead up to the election. Just deteriorated in the lead up to the election. Things areow how going to go forward t