In an article, Obamacare repair written by Michael Gerson, the author attacks Obamacare. He calls it a fiasco. He attacks Obamacare predominantly on a technical front. Since people could start trying to buy insurance online there have been numerous reports of glitches or faultiness with the website.
   The author definitely appeals to an audience that might be fed up with trying to use the website and getting no where. Because it is so hard to sign up for insurance using the government website a problem is presented, that only the really adamant, meaning the elderly or sick, would be the ones who would succeed in creating an account while the young and healthy would not waste the time. This could lead to what the author describes as the insurance "death spiral". This situation stems from not enough young and healthy people signing up for insurance while too many old or sick do. This would cause premiums to rise which would further discourage young people from signing up resulting in a further rise in premiums. This is viewed as a very serious issue that if not resolved would set off a catastrophic adverse-selection spiral that has the potential to badly damage our large health care systems.
    Mr. Gerson calls into questions if putting a federal agency in charge of a health system that's suppose to aid millions of Americans is even possible. That maybe all the other problems that have stemmed from this idea are just evidence that this whole thing is not even possible. That maybe some aspects of the human system are just too complex to be managed.
   
 

    In an opinion article in the New York Times titled,Do Republicans Believe in Their Own Crisis? By DAVID FIRESTONE October 7, 2013, the author talks about how he thinks the Republicans are not taking the possibility of a default seriously with an underlying blame of the default on the Republicans. He also states that in fact they are downgrading the effects of a possible default.
    Mr. Firestone ways heavy on the idea that the prospect of a default is all blamed on the Republicans. I can neither disagree or agree fully only because I have not researched this topic fully,but Mr. Firestone certainly shoots to reemphasize this idea. He says that they are trying to use the government shutdown as well as the debt ceiling as leverage to get their way on policies. That the Republicans are pretty much asking for the Democrats to give up all the liberal ideals so that they can have their way. It's very clear that Mr. Firestone is taking one sided view on this topic. It's very possible that the Democrats are making some requests or demands, but none are mentioned throughout the entire article.
   A good portion of the article is devoted to showing how the Republicans are completely downgrading the default, acting like it's not that big of a deal. Mr. Firestone uses many statements from representatives. Some of the representatives are saying it won't be that bad, others are simply denying that it will even happen, and some are saying that it will even be beneficial. I think the author does a very good job at swaying the public opinion that the Republicans are just being absolutely absurd by adding these statements. It really drives the point home for readers that they are not taking the gravity of their decisions very seriously.   
    The author goes on to claim that the Republicans are trying to keep the public blind to the real threat a default would have on society. In the last two paragraphs he really tries to make the Republicans out to be the bad guys. He presents it like they are evil manipulators; their task is to keep the public ignorant while trying to bully the Democrats into giving them what they want.
    Mr. Firestone does a very good job overall of convincing readers, not only that the Republican are some evil group, but that they are also incompetent and don't care what happens to the general public.