David Brooks: Obama Admin ‘Surrendered’ Every Time on Mandate, Will Continue to Do So

New York Times columnist and self-aware Thought Leader David Brooks told a Meet the Press panel Sunday morning that the Obama administration had surrendered on every challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s various mandates, and likely would continue to do so in the future.

“The most important issue is the mandate issue,” Brooks said. “The American people don’t like mandates anymore. We’re a much more individualistic culture. And every moment when the administration has been faced with either mandating something or surrendering on this bill, they’ve surrendered each time. They’ve weakened each invdividual mandate all the way along. So you have to expect they’ll weaken and surrender on the mandate down the line.”

Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne responded that that Medicare and Medicaid showed mandate programs in effect, and that given the demonstrable desire among people to purchase health care, the weakened mandate was a less vital issue than Brooks had made it out to be.

“Society is not the same as it was in the 1930s and the 1960s,” Brooks countered. “There’s less faith in government; it’s much more consumer based. So if you can’t force people in the system and people rebel against enforcement, then you really do have a problem.”

Watch the full clip below, via NBC News:

[Image via screengrab]

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