Mediaboss Marketing

Democrats made a mistake by passing President Barack Obamas health-care law in 2010 instead of first focusing more directly on helping the middle class, third-ranking U.S. Senate Democrat Charles Schumer said today.

Unfortunately, Democrats blew the opportunity the American people gave them in electing Obama and a Democratic Congress in 2008 amid a recession, Schumer of New York said in a speech in Washington. We took their mandate and put all our focus on the wrong problem -- health care reform.

Schumer said Democrats should have addressed issues aiding the middle class to build confidence among voters before turning to revamping the health-care system. He said he opposed the timing of the health-care vote and was overruled by other party members.

The plight of uninsured Americans and the hardships created by unfair insurance company practices certainly needed to be addressed, the senator said. But it wasnt the change we were hired to make in the 2008 election.

Schumers comments represent an unusual public intra-party criticism of the way Obamas signature legislative achievement was enacted. The senator spoke at the National Press Club to analyze the results of this months election, when Republicans took control of the Senate and increased their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Asked about Schumers comments, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said, I saw that he talked about the need to have an emphasis on the middle class, and that is something that drives us and this president every single day.

Much of Schumers speech amounted to a critique of the Obama administrations handing of foreign and domestic policy matters before this months election.

As 2014 began, the parties were in stalemate, he said. But, when government failed to deliver on a string of non-economic issues -- the rollout of the Obamacare exchanges, the mishandling of the surge in border crossers, ineptitude at the VA and the governments initial handling of the Ebola threat -- people lost faith in the governments ability to work, and then blamed the incumbent governing party, the Democrats, creating a Republican wave.

The 16-day partial government shutdown in October 2013, which caused Republicans approval ratings to plummet, created an opportunity for Democrats that was quickly eclipsed by the disastrous rollout of the Obamacare insurance exchanges, Schumer said.

The rollout was a glaring example of governments ineffectiveness and became the perfect anecdote for the Republicans anti-government argument, he said.

Read more here:
Democrats Erred by Acting on Health Care in 2010, Schumer Says

In a speech diagnosing his party's political missteps in 2014, a top Senate Democrat reached back to the decision to pursue an overhaul of the health system in late 2009 as an example of how the party took its focus off middle-class priorities, saying healthcare was "the wrong problem" to address at the time.

New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer, who leads Senate Democrats' policy and messaging efforts, argued in a speech Tuesday that when Americans were "crying out" for additional steps to combat the economic crisis at the time, "not for changes in healthcare."

"After passing the stimulus, Democrats should have continued to propose middle class-oriented programs and built on the partial success of the stimulus, but unfortunately Democrats blew the opportunity the American people gave them," he said. "We took their mandate and put all of our focus on the wrong problem."

Americans turned to the GOP in the 2010 elections as a result of that decision, but the GOP -- fueled by the tea party -- overreached and paved the way for President Obama's reelection two years later, Schumer said. When the government shutdown of 2013 put Democrats in position to regain the political upper hand, the party was felled by a "cascade of issues," including the Obamacare website debacle, treatment delays at Veterans Administration hospitals, a border crisis and the Ebola outbreak -- all of which Schumer said "served to illustrate the inability of government to solve problems."

"Each time a party appears to be in charge, but is unable to convince the public they have the solution for easing middle-class decline, the electorate picks the other party -- creating a sort of electoral whiplash," Schumer said. But by focusing narrowly on policies that promote the middle class and embracing government as a force to achieve that end, Schumer said, the Democrats can secure their position as a majority party for the next generation.

Schumer's assessment that Democrats should have waited before pursuing an overhaul of the healthcare system is not a new one for him. But revisiting the issue -- particularly when it seemed the issue of Obamacare had been largely neutralized by the 2014 elections -- hints at a debate simmering between Capitol Hill Democrats and the Obama administration over who bears the most blame for the recent election losses.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times last week, said she intended to have House Democrats take a more prominent role in shaping their own message, noting that congressional candidates suffered because top-of-the-ticket candidates seemed to run away from the party label.

When the issue of healthcare resurfaced in a Q&A session Tuesday, Schumer said he understood the feeling of some that there was a narrow political window in which Democrats could pass reform that they needed to seize.

"We should have done it," he said. "We just shouldn't have done it first. We were in the middle of a recession, people were hurting and said, What about me?'"

Schumer was one of the architects of the party's 2014 "Fair Shot" agenda that was designed to help keep Democrats in the Senate majority. The platform called for votes on issues like the minimum wage, equal pay for women in the workplace and student loan affordability. Schumer insisted that the strategy was a sound one, even though Democrats lost the Senate majority in the midterm election earlier this month.

View original post here:
Democrats erred by pursuing health reform too soon, senator says

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, speaks at a press conference pitching the borough of Brooklyn to host the 2016 Democratic National Convention (DNC) outside the Barclay Center on August 11, 2014 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Andrew Burton, Getty Images

Democrats will choose between Columbus, New York and Philadelphia for their 2016 convention site, where they will formalize their nominee for president, Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced Monday.

The DNC is looking at the weeks of July 18, July 25 and August 22, 2016 for the convention.

"We're thrilled to move to the next step of the selection process to determine where Democrats will come together to nominate the 45th President of the United States," Wasserman Schultz wrote in an email to supporters. "We are fortunate to have such a diverse and vibrant group of cities interested in hosting this special event and we thank Phoenix and Birmingham for showcasing their special communities. We look forward to working with Columbus, New York, and Philadelphia as we go forward."

She also said the final city and date will be announced early next year.

In addition to Birmingham, Alabama and Phoenix, Democrats were eyeing Cleveland, but the Republicans beat them to it, announcing in August that Cleveland would be their convention site. It is the first time the city will have hosted a national convention since 1936, and was chosen in part because a recent increase in hotel construction will allow the city to accommodate the 50,000 people the convention could draw.

The GOP convention is likely to be held earlier than the Democrats', with June 28 as a potential start date. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus has expressed a preference for wrapping up the nominating process earlier in the summer, although the date could be pushed back. Basketball star LeBron James' return to the Cleveland Cavaliers might help the NBA team make it to the NBA finals, which usually take place in mid-June.

Democrats held their 2012 nominating convention in Charlotte and the Republicans in Tampa.

2014 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

See more here:
Democrats narrow 2016 convention choice to 3 cities

WASHINGTON Senate Democrats' top message man is urging the party leftward in the wake of crushing midterm election losses, saying working Americans want a robust government that will promote education access, labor bargaining rights, progressive taxes and more.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said his party erred five years ago by putting health care reform ahead of jobs and economic priorities. The vast majority of Americans were relatively happy with their employer-provided health insurance in 2009, he said, and the health care overhaul's message was aimed at about 5 percent of the electorate: those who lacked insurance and who voted.

"To aim a huge change in mandate at such a small percentage of the electorate made no political sense," Schumer said. "Unfortunately Democrats blew the opportunity the American people gave them. We took their mandate and put all of our focus on the wrong problem health care reform."

He said he expressed such concerns at the time. His office later said he "expressed those concerns privately to fellow Democrats."

Schumer's remarks come a few weeks after Republicans won control of the Senate and boosted their House majority in the midterm elections. He said the way back to influence on Capitol Hill is to appeal to voters who support "an active and forceful government" to help them cope with globalization, technology and other forces keeping middle incomes stagnant.

Schumer said Democrats made it easier for Republicans to paint government as bloated and inept with "the rollout of the Obamacare exchanges, the mishandling of the surge in border crossers, ineptitude at the (Department of Veterans Affairs) and the government's initial handling of the Ebola threat."

Schumer oversaw Democrats' campaign efforts in two highly successful elections, 2006 and 2008, and is chairman of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. Some see him as a potential successor to Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters the administration is happy to revisit the health care law "because we believe strongly that the Affordable Care Act is working."

Republicans ridiculed Schumer's call for a more robust federal government.

"The failure of big-government liberalism is why liberals were overwhelmingly rebuked at the polls this month," the conservative group YG Network said.

Read the original post:
Schumer to Democrats: Focus on health care was a mistake

In a speech diagnosing his party's political missteps in 2014, a top Senate Democrat reached back to the decision to pursue an overhaul of the health system in late 2009 as an example of how the party took its focus off middle-class priorities, saying healthcare was "the wrong problem" to address at the time.

New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer, who leads Senate Democrats' policy and messaging efforts, argued in a speech Tuesday that when Americans were "crying out" for additional steps to combat the economic crisis at the time, "not for changes in healthcare."

"After passing the stimulus, Democrats should have continued to propose middle class-oriented programs and built on the partial success of the stimulus, but unfortunately Democrats blew the opportunity the American people gave them," he said. "We took their mandate and put all of our focus on the wrong problem."

Americans turned to the GOP in the 2010 elections as a result of that decision, but the GOP -- fueled by the tea party -- overreached and paved the way for President Obama's reelection two years later, Schumer said. When the government shutdown of 2013 put Democrats in position to regain the political upper hand, the party was felled by a "cascade of issues," including the Obamacare website debacle, treatment delays at Veterans Administration hospitals, a border crisis and the Ebola outbreak -- all of which Schumer said "served to illustrate the inability of government to solve problems."

"Each time a party appears to be in charge, but is unable to convince the public they have the solution for easing middle-class decline, the electorate picks the other party -- creating a sort of electoral whiplash," Schumer said. But by focusing narrowly on policies that promote the middle class and embracing government as a force to achieve that end, Schumer said, the Democrats can secure their position as a majority party for the next generation.

Schumer's assessment that Democrats should have waited before pursuing an overhaul of the healthcare system is not a new one for him. But revisiting the issue -- particularly when it seemed the issue of Obamacare had been largely neutralized by the 2014 elections -- hints at a debate simmering between Capitol Hill Democrats and the Obama administration over who bears the most blame for the recent election losses.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times last week, said she intended to have House Democrats take a more prominent role in shaping their own message, noting that congressional candidates suffered because top-of-the-ticket candidates seemed to run away from the party label.

When the issue of healthcare resurfaced in a Q&A session Tuesday, Schumer said he understood the feeling of some that there was a narrow political window in which Democrats could pass reform that they needed to seize.

"We should have done it," he said. "We just shouldn't have done it first. We were in the middle of a recession, people were hurting and said, What about me?'"

Schumer was one of the architects of the party's 2014 "Fair Shot" agenda that was designed to help keep Democrats in the Senate majority. The platform called for votes on issues like the minimum wage, equal pay for women in the workplace and student loan affordability. Schumer insisted that the strategy was a sound one, even though Democrats lost the Senate majority in the midterm election earlier this month.

See the original post:
Schumer: Democrats erred by pursuing health reform too soon