June 16, 2015

Jeb Bush Doesn’t Want to Repeal Obamacare. Maybe.

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This is interesting from Sarah Kliff:

Jeb Bush laid out his top policies Monday in a speech announcing his run for the 2016 Republican nomination. But he left out one big Republican priority: repealing Obamacare….[This] reflects the changing politics of Obamacare. As Obamacare becomes more and more entrenched, it builds a constituency. As more people sign up for Obamacare, it becomes increasingly difficult to take away both practically and politically. So Republicans, who once ran and won calling for its end, are beginning to abandon the line.

Jeb has been fuzzy on Obamacare for a while, to the point where it’s been hard to know where he actually stands. It’s clear enough that he doesn’t like Obamacare—it’s a “monstrosity” and the “greatest job suppressor of the recovery”—but he never goes much beyond this kind of pro forma denunciation. So it’s not surprising that he didn’t give it a lot of attention in his announcement speech.

Still, it’s something to watch. Will he be gung ho for repeal once he’s on a debate stage with all the other candidates? Or will he stay soft and get pilloried? And if he does, how will this affect him with Republican voters?

Have any of the other ten GOP candidates who have announced so far gone soft on Obamacare repeal? This should be a research project for someone other than me. Inquiring minds want to know.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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