Rule No. 1 of modern politics: Never, ever say anything on camera you wouldn’t be comfortable saying to your enemies.
Like, for example, saying this about the Affordable Care Act: “Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage. And basically, call it the ‘stupidity of the American voter’ or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to getting the thing to pass.”
That was Jonathan Gruber, who served as a consultant in the drafting of the ACA (and the 2006 Massachusetts law on which it was largely based), during a panel discussion at the Annual Health Economics Conference in October 2013.
Those comments surfaced online this past week and Gruber went from nerdy MIT economist whom only people in health care circles knew to poster boy for opponents of what they call “Obamacare” everywhere.
Gruber, Republicans insisted, was saying what they have suspected all along: the ACA was made purposely opaque so it could pass Congress. “The architect of Obamacare says it passed because voters are stupid,” tweeted Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who faces Sen. Mary Landrieu, D, in a Dec. 6 Senate runoff. (Democrats insisted Gruber was far from the “architect” of the law and he played more of an advisory role in the process.)
Gruber quickly apologized, telling MSNBC’s Ronan Farrow he had been “speaking off the cuff.” Too late. He had already become a household name — and just days after the Supreme Court announced it would hear a new challenge to the health care law.
Jonathan Gruber, for becoming a pawn in the never-ending battle over the Affordable Care Act, you had the worst week in Washington. Congrats, or something.
Cillizza covers the White House for The Washington Post and writes The Fix, its politics blog.