On the Third Hand: Communications

In the United States, the party that’s been on top often loses steam in the midterm elections.

The economy is sluggish, and people are in a sour mood. But at least we’re not in the same horrible boat that Europe’s in.

Public health authorities seem to have gotten us through the Ebola scare. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) might be doing hospitals and some poor people and moderately low-income people some good, in spite of the irritation it causes the rest of us. 

So, on the one hand, I could see why members of the Obama administration might look at the results of Tuesday’s selections, sigh, and just go on with muddling through.

But, on the other hand, I hope members of the administration will look harder at the results, and at some of the Democratic strongholds (Maryland, Massachusetts) where voters elected Republican governors, and realize that even many of  their own loyal partisans are trying to send them a message: Many people — even some independents and Eisenhower Republicans — trust the Democrats to have good hearts and sensible views on the issues of the day — but they don’t trust the Democrats to put together an information technology system that works properly.

Perhaps more important, they don’t trust the Democrats to fess up and speak in plain English when they mess up, especially in any area that has anything to do with PPACA.

PPACA officials in some states, such as Nevada and California, have done a great job of being honest and open about their failures as well as their achievements. They stream live video of board meetings on the Web. They put comment letters from angry members of the public in their board meeting packets.