Liberals Hyperventilating

This week Joan Walsh wrote the most sensible Salon piece about the buggy launch of healthcare.gov and its coverage by hyperventilating liberal journalists. She gently and respectfully slapped Ryan Lizza, Think Progress and Ezra Klein for hyperventilating. Many took exception to her critiques. Many wanted liberal purity. After all, what distinguishes liberals from the Republicans is absolute honesty. Liberals call a spade a spade. Right?

Chris Hayes had both Joan Walsh and Ezra Klein on the show to air out their "dispute." It was the first time I did not like Ezra Klein, who is an excellent journalist. His absolutist overbearing moral indignation for being questioned on his tone of objective reporting was completely uncalled for. What was more upsetting is that he did not know what he was taking about. From a software development point of view, he was not qualified to assert as he did success or failure of the functional specs of healthcare.gov’s backend. His unwarranted critiques were just as scary and detrimental to those yearning for the benefits of Obamacare, as are the false assertions by Republicans. He allowed himself by his tonality to be used as the liberal posterboy detailing Obamacare’s failure.

Good reporting does not mean just laying out the facts. The purpose of the press is to ensure transparent government. It is a check on government. Reporting carries responsibilities as well. Where two factions within a government are at war, it is the responsibility of journalists to be truthful but to minimize the possibility that truth will be used to do harm. Ezra Klein said he just does not care who his reporting hurts. He just reports the facts. That is naïve. Many seasoned journalists before Klein new that in the best interest of the country exceptions are made to ensure their reporting did not become a catalyst for others to do harm.

During the week there were many other liberals—other purists on television—complaining about the problems with healthcare.gov’s potential to cause people to give up. It shows how many live in ivory towers. It shows how many of our liberal journalists fail to understand those they purport to care about.

The millions of Americans that have been yearning for insurance will keep trying. The millions of young people that are responsible will eventually sign up. It is silly to believe if one is dying from thirst, they will not keep trying the tap till water flows.

Journalist must do their jobs. The president says Obamacare is not a website. That is a fact. The law has already done much for the vast majority of Americans. It made it illegal for insurance companies to rescind policies. It removed caps insurance companies used to maximize profits at the expense of middle class folk. Effective in January pre-existing conditions cannot cause denial of coverage. Children up to the age of 26 can remain on parents' policies. The donut hole for the elderly is being closed. Small businesses receive subsidies to help with insurance. There are controls and support for clinics and various other healthcare concepts that go completely unreported.

Healthcare.gov is one of the portals to the implementation of Obamacare for the other 15 percent of Americans, those left behind completely by the insurance markets. It was bound to be a difficult task. 15 percent of a population does not have much of a political voice. While many may be more concerned with "journalistic purity" or "liberal purity," those suffering the effects of economic, health, or political marginalization cannot.

It is time for liberals in the media to stop hyperventilating. Report truthfully but with the proper context that does not scare but inform. Otherwise you are nothing more than Fox News Lite.