By Conn Carroll – Washington Examiner
Political shock waves from the exploding Obamacare myth that “if you like your plan, you can keep it” are laying waste to all in a concentric path through American liberalism.
The latest casualties are the credibility of dozens of major liberal nonprofit activist groups that originated and then helped spread the myth, including such giants as the AARP, Center for American Progress, SEIU and MoveOn.org, among many others.
At least 176 such liberal activist outfits were united behind the Obamacare push in 2009 in a group known as the Herndon Alliance.
Sourcing the lie
Lachlan Markay of the Washington Free Beacon laid it out earlier this week in a piece that pointed to a 2009 Politico story that observed:
“Herndon Alliance is the most influential group in the health arena that the public has never heard of. Its work has flowed through the three major Democratic presidential campaigns and built a following among senior administration officials who receive its daily e-mail analysis of news clips.
“When President Barack Obama says Americans can maintain their ‘choice’ of doctors and insurance plans, he is using a Herndon strategy for wringing fear out of a system overhaul.”
What did they know and when did they know it?
Networks of liberal activists like the Herndon Alliance are found on every major issue area. The Right has issue-oriented networks, too, but they are routinely dwarfed by the funding, media influence, and sheer numbers of those on the Left.
Due to their size, resources and pervasiveness, liberal networks like the Herndon Alliance feed critical intelligence, research and marketing savvy to allies in government, media and the corporate communities.
So, Herndon Alliance members almost certainly knew the Obamacare myth was a lie even before key Democratic strategists in the White House and Congress.
It’s accountability time
That’s why the Obamacare myth represents a lethal threat to these groups — They were parties to one of the biggest intentional deceptions in American political history.
The threat is especially dangerous for alliance members like AARP, the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Community Health Centers, which maintain an aura of nonpartisanship.
They can’t say they weren’t warned. Recall in the summer of 2009, for example, how AARP’s active support for Obamacare generated widespread resentment and rebellion among its membership.
Hell to pay
Three years later, as Lucy would say, leaders of these groups have “some ‘splainin’ to do” and odds are they won’t be able to spin their way out of this one.
As I wrote in 2009, “there will be hell to pay for AARP with its members when this ugly reality becomes crystal clear, as it most certainly will.”
