The Eventual Triumph of the Facts

Paul Krugman argues that the effective success of Obamacare is making it harder and harder for the Republicans to use as a campaign issue against the Democrats.  People are simply starting to notice that the facts don't adhere to Republican propaganda.

However, I think this is true of political issues in general.  When you have a difficult decision, you get a phase where opponents can whip all kinds of fears about how it won't work.  Once it is in place, people can see whether it is working or not.  For instance, w3hen Brent introduced blue top bins we were assailed with a whole series of accusations of rats, flytipping, fire hazards, ridiculous numbers of bins per household and so on.  Once the system was in place, these suggestions had much less traction as people could see the scare stories didn't work.  In particular, the opposition was dampened by the immediate rise in the recycling figures as soon as the bins started being collected.

Eric Pickles is still trying to overcome this, by simply repeating the same old stories even though he knows they are untrue.  Unfortunately, the likes of the Daily Mail and so on willingly lap it up and regurgitate his lines. 

I suspect the same is now true of libraries.  The improved satisfaction of library users is established.  The visits and loan figures are higher than before, and Brent outperforms comparable authorities.  The only way to deny the success of the Brent Libraries Transformation is simply to deny the facts altogether, which unfortunately a few of the campaigners continue to do, aided by journalists who have little interest in publishing the truth.