Video: Why the White House should be afraid, very afraid, over the ObamaCare arguments this week

Hotair ^ | 03/29/2012 | Ed Morrissey

[kevslisababy]

I love reading that when I see it posted/linked here. It never dawned on me to just go out and find it.

Anyways, whether it is true or not, it let’s me pretend (or not) that the worst things I think about that couple are true! I really need that some days.

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

Actually, the GOP proposal can be even more simple than that. And as rotten as RomneyCare is, Romney's defense of it is the perfect argument for November. "I think that the people of each stat are perfectly capable of passing laws to implement whatever parts of that bill they liked, and to ignore the parts they don't. If they want coverage for 26 year olds, then why can't the people of each state decide that for themselves?

Let's face it -- saying the health care tar baby should be decided by the people of each state is something about which it's difficult to manufacture much outrage.

[NEMDF]

I think it could go either way. Other than getting bin Laden, his only claim to fame for anything he felt was a success was the health reform act. If that goes down, he could lose some support. On the other hand, he’ll no doubt spin it to show that he and all of the rest of us are victims of the Supreme Court, for taking away all of our free health care. He will be able to get away with that, unless the GOP comes out strong with all the reasons it is good to have the health care act repealed.

[NTHockey]

I see a 4-4 deadlock with Kagan abstaining. That would kick it back to the three Appeals Court s for review. That is the only politically correct decision to make for the SCOTUS. Anything else and one side or the other is going to play holy Hades over the decision.

OTOH, should the justices reach unanimous consent to either keep or overturn DeathCare, then any backlash would be blunted.

[JediJones]

Suspicion of the media had already been heightened following the 'Fluke' fiasco. I think the deceptive use of photos for maximum gain of sympathy for Trayvon and for maximum prejudice against Zimmerman by the media caused many Americans to rethink their perception of the media.

If the attempted blaming of the Republicans and Palin for the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords didn't already permanently sour people on trusting the media, then nothing will.

The Republicans are put in a somewhat tougher spot if Obamacare is struck down. Suddenly instead of arguing against an unpopular bill, they have to create their own bill and sell it against something else new from the Democrats. Instead of being in the lead, they have to start the race all over again. And the public will either have forgotten about Obamacare or won't care by the time November rolls around. The notion that it was struck down will be a distant memory, something the media won't be talking about or asking about at the debates.

Romney won't have any special credibility on this issue because he can't point to what he did in Mass. as a model for the nation. He can push the states' rights angle, but that would contradict the idea of selling insurance across state lines, which conservatives seem to want. Although I'm not sure where RINO Romney stands on that issue.

If only the mandate is struck down, there could be a different type of fight or an interim fight. I'm sure that Congress will have enough votes to override a veto on striking down the rule that insurance companies have to cover pre-existing conditions. The insurance lobby will make sure of that. But the White House might set it up so Dems not up for reelection vote for that override, while Obama can publically tell people he vetoed an attempt to stop universal coverage while he insists Congress come up with new funding for it.

[HeartlandOfAmerica]

Looks like the "I got Osama" strategy is going to get more and more play every day.

"Mr. President, how do you respond to the vast majority of Americans who think that gas prices are too high?"

"They may be high, but I got Osama!"

[JediJones]

Let's face it -- saying the health care tar baby should be decided by the people of each state is something about which it's difficult to manufacture much outrage.

That doesn't typically sell to voters. If Obama comes up with a detailed plan and promises a bunch of goodies and Romney's response is to say no, I have no plan, it's up to the states, most voters are going to with Obama. Yet any plan Romney comes up with is going to contradict his defense of Romneycare as health care being an issue for the states. So he'll be put in a very difficult position. If all Romney's arguing for is the status quo we had before Obamacare was implemented, people aren't going to go for it. Most conservatives want health insurance sold across state lines. The dems will just keep saying millions remain uninsured under that system.

[Catsrus]

Once again, this turns out to be all about obama. How it affects him politically, etc. How about how it affects the American public?

I’m sick of this meme about how everything is about zero.

[Servant of the Cross]

Justices Sotomayor and kagan are NOT intellectually deep enough to sway Kennedy ...

Don't forget this unhinged guy either ... Justice Breyer's unhinged Commerce Clause ramblings

[DarthVader]

I don’t the long knives are out for Obotulism and they are going to help finish him off. 6-2-1 or 5-3-1 if Elena Kegface abstains as you say.

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

That doesn't typically sell to voters. If Obama comes up with a detailed plan and promises a bunch of goodies and Romney's response is to say no, I have no plan, it's up to the states, most voters are going to with Obama.

By that logic, people should have loved ObamaCare. But people hated it, and it sunk the Dems in 2010. The problem is that while generalities may sound good, as soon as you start getting specific, you're inevitably going to say things that alienate people. That's why ObamaCare sank.

And the worst part of that for Obama is that he won't be able to get by with just generalities. When he had a chance to draft something, he came up with something people hated, and the GOP nominee can just say "why would you trust this guy a second time when he did something you hated the first time?

The reality is that Obamacare and the reaction to it has ratchetted up the usual distrust government of government solutions, so a "punt" to the states may well be the most inoffensive solution.

[MarMema]

I understand the decision will be made very soon, in the next week, but will not be released until June. I am unsure why that is the case.

[JediJones]

Well, the conservatives and Republicans actually did a good job in the spin war and messaging war against Obamacare. They simultaneously made it sound like a single payer government takeover of health care, which it fell short of actually being, and also played up the mandate, making people see it as a tax increase. I think many of the people who hated the mandate/tax actually would have been covered by the “free health care giveaway” provisions of the law. But for some reason the Dems could never get that message across. I still think Obama can win the health care issue if he promises people free goodies and says he’ll tax “the rich” to pay for it. “Taxing the rich” still polls incredibly well. The Republicans have been doing some of their worst messaging on that issue. Bottom line I don’t think we’re well-positioned on the health care issue for the general election if Obamacare is overturned, at least not at this point.