outside of politics, perhaps the worst new-product launch of 2016 was the samsung galaxy note 7. released in august, it was recalled twice and finally withdrawn from the market last week, all because the device has a tendency to catch fire or explode. it<u+2019>s an apt analogy for the patient protection and affordable care act, known colloquially as obamacare<u+2014>and that<u+2019>s not our opinion but that of president obama himself. here<u+2019>s the president in a speech yesterday at miami dade college in florida: it turns out obamacare compares unfavorably even by that analogy. several years ago this columnist switched our tv and internet service to verizon fios, the fiber-optic service offered by the company whose local operation was long ago known as new york telephone. signing up for fios, it turned out, also entailed giving up traditional copper-wire analog phone service in favor of the newfangled digital kind. follow james on twitter we hadn<u+2019>t used a rotary phone since childhood, but we happen to own an antique one. this morning we plugged it into the wall and attempted to dial a number. it took a long time, as you have to dial 11 digits now even for a local call<u+2014>but it worked. if you like your phone, you can keep your phone (save for the note 7). verizon 1, obamacare 0. the president<u+2019>s obamacare apologia is classic obama, filled with self-serving fiction and fallacy. <u+201c>change does not typically come from the top down, it always comes from the bottom up,<u+201d> he asserts: he claims to have <u+201c>worked really, really hard to engage republicans. .<u+00a0>.<u+00a0>. and when they just refused to do anything, we said, all right, we<u+2019>re going to have to do it with democrats. and that<u+2019>s what we did.<u+201d> in reality, public resistance to obamacare was far broader and more intense than support for it, as evidenced by the democratic rout in the 2010 elections. <u+201c>before this law, before obamacare, health insurance rates for everybody<u+2014>whether you got your insurance on the job, or you were buying it on your own<u+2014>health insurance rates generally were going up really fast,<u+201d> he asserts: this is post hoc ergo propter hoc reasoning; he doesn<u+2019>t make the case the <u+201c>cost trends<u+201d> would have continued absent the law. and in any case you<u+2019>re paying more in other ways and getting less in return, but somehow that<u+2019>s somebody else<u+2019>s fault: he also boasts that for people with employer coverage, obamacare <u+201c>has not affected your coverage<u+2014>except to make it stronger<u+201d>: in reality, of course, none of this stuff is free; you<u+2019>re just paying for it through higher premiums and copays and diminished options. obamacare had a far more disruptive effect on the individual medical-insurance market, which the president naturally downplays: another way of saying <u+201c>tax credits that government is giving you<u+201d> is <u+201c>subsidies that taxpayers are paying for.<u+201d> and after all this, as the weekly standard<u+2019>s jeffrey anderson points out, a smaller percentage of the under-65 population had private health insurance in 2015 (65.6%) than in 2007 (66.8%). it<u+2019>s a bit more complicated than that, centers for disease control data (table 1.2b) show. the figure dropped notably between 2008 (65.4%) and 2009 (62.9%), presumably as a result of the recession. it bottomed out at 61.0% in 2012 and 2013 and rose by a total of 4.6 percentage points in the first two years of the obamacare marketplaces. anderson: fixing obamacare, the president asserts, is simple, <u+201c>but only if we<u+201d><u+2014>meaning his opponents<u+2014><u+201c>put aside all the politics [sic in transcript] rhetoric, all the partisanship, and just be honest about what<u+2019>s working, what needs fixing and how we fix it<u+201d>: oh lord it<u+2019>s hard to be humble when you<u+2019>re perfect in every way. but it<u+2019>s no coincidence that the reforms he endorses<u+2014>still more medicaid, and a <u+201c>public plan fallback<u+201d> (a<u+00a0>k<u+00a0>a the public option, i.e., a government-owned insurance company)<u+2014>are all left-liberal ideas. at this point, it doesn<u+2019>t much matter what obama wants, as he<u+2019>ll officially be a lame duck in another 2<u+00bd> weeks. in the unlikely event that donald trump is elected, <u+201c>ryancare<u+201d> might have a chance of getting through. in the likely event that hillary clinton wins the white house while republicans hold at least one house of congress, perhaps there will be some room for actual compromise<u+2014>though that would also mean republicans would bear some responsibility for the failures of whatever new system emerges. on the other hand, obama seems unlikely to opt for a dignified, low-key postpresidency <u+00e0> la george w. bush and his father. we<u+2019>ll probably be hearing a lot from him in the decades to come. by 2050 he<u+2019>ll be just 89, younger than jimmy carter is today. we blame george w. bush <u+201c>restaurant ceos blame presidential election for hurting sales<u+201d><u+2014>headline, bloomberg, oct.<u+00a0>20 what would we do without experts? <u+201c>trump: we don<u+2019>t know that russia is hacking the us election. experts: yes, we do.<u+201d><u+2014>headline, vox, oct.<u+00a0>20 shortest books ever written <u+201c>here<u+2019>s what could happen if donald trump refuses to accept election results<u+201d><u+2014>headline, lawnewz.com, oct.<u+00a0>20 hypothesis and proof life imitates the onion hey, kids! what time is it? <u+201c>this harvard economist says it<u+2019>s time to abolish $100, $50, and $20 bills<u+201d><u+2014>headline, vox, oct.<u+00a0>20 question and answer<u+2014>i question and answer<u+2014>ii question and answer<u+2014>iii it<u+2019>s always in the last place you look <u+201c>selena gomez: i<u+2019>m in hell!<u+201d><u+2014>headline, thehollywoodgossip.com, oct.<u+00a0>21 too much information <u+201c>tom brady<u+2019>s love affair with his tight ends<u+2014>a stats story<u+201d><u+2014>headline, espn website, oct.<u+00a0>20 news of the tautological <u+201c>techies don<u+2019>t think trump could drive the self-driving car<u+201d><u+2014>headline, wired.com, oct.<u+00a0>21 breaking news from 1929 <u+201c><u+00a0><u+2018>planet nine<u+2019> can<u+2019>t hide much longer, scientists say<u+201d><u+2014>headline, space.com, oct.<u+00a0>20 bottom story of the day <u+201c>wisconsin preventing children<u+2019>s cavities better than most states<u+201d><u+2014>headline, wisconsin public radio website, oct.<u+00a0>20 fired like a dog. sad! <u+201c>was snoopy fired by metlife for being too white?<u+201d> asks the headline on american thinker, a conservative blog. usually when a yes-or-no question is a headline, the answer is no, and this one sounded so silly that we figured it had to be either tongue-in-cheek or crazy<u+2014>but no. from the new york times: and we suppose dilbert need not apply. follow @jamestaranto on twitter. join fans of best of the web today on facebook. subscribe to the best of the web email with one click. (carol muller helps compile best of the web. thanks to tony lima, michele schiesser, ed lasky, bruce goldman, chris basil, mordecai bobrowsky, irene deblasio and brian dawson. if you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com , and please include the url.)
obamacare catches fire - wsj
james taranto