Call it low-information voter outreach.
An email yesterday from CNNMoney touted how fantastic it was that Obamacare enrollment has reached the six million threshold, even describing it as a "symbolic victory." Though the underlying article by Tami Luhby at least noted the problems with that 6 million figure, those problems should have been enough to negate that characterization. Instead, Luhby repeated it in her coverage (bolds are mine):
Obamacare tops 6 million signups
... President Obama announced the milestone Thursday in a call with enrollment counselors and outreach volunteers, who are undertaking an intense marketing drive in the final days of open enrollment. There were more than 1.5 million visits to HealthCare.gov and more than 430,000 calls to the call centers on Wednesday.
Those who've started the application by next Monday but are unable to finish because of technical issues will receive more time to complete the process, officials have said.
Reaching 6 million is a symbolic victory for the Obama administration following the botched launch in October.
It is short of the initial goal of 7 million, which was based on a projection by the Congressional Budget Office and adopted by the administration. But it shows considerable gains from the first month when just 106,000 people had signed up.
Last month, the CBO revised its projection down to 6 million because of the rocky initial rollout.
But just how many people fully enroll in the program this year remains to be seen. The latest figures reflect those picking plans, not paying their premiums. Only those who pay their first month's premium are considered enrolled, while those who don't pay have their policy selections canceled.
Insurers have said that the share of people sending in payments is in the 80% range.
Embedded in the article is a link to a infographic story entitled, "Obamacare's amazing comeback." Really.
Luhby failed to note the Obama administration's virtual blackout on official figures relating to who has actually paid, even though there is strong reason to believe that they are available or easily obtainable.
And of course, there were no horror stories, of which there is no shortage, and no mention of President Obama's personally and serially delivered "trinity of lies."
Getting back to the email itself, low-information voters and many in business and finance who don't have time to click through to the news in detail are going to think that things are just fine. What a sick joke.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
