The American voters, most of whom have been around long enough and who have grown skeptical enough about politicians’ math skills, understand this intuitively. They see the pile of debt, a huge new program and shout: ‘Stop!’ In electoral terms, ‘stop’ means 63 House and 6 Senate seats. That’s why the Democrats would be wise to junk the ‘covering millions more saves money!’ argument. It’s not working, and by repeating it they simply convince voters that they are out to lunch.”
“Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s advocacy group American Solutions on Thursday launched a website to support congressional Republicans’ fight to defund and repeal the health care reform law. In an email to supporters, Gingrich described the new site, NoMoreObamaCare.com, as an ‘action center’ for citizens who want to get involved in promoting efforts to repeal President Obama’s signature domestic achievement.”
“The health care reform law was signed 10 months ago, and what’s striking now is how vulnerable it looks. Several threats have emerged — some of them scarcely discussed before passage — that together or alone could seriously endanger the new system.”
“Throughout the debate over health-care reform, Democrats constantly told us (and themselves) that if only they could explain the bill better, Americans would come to understand how good it was for them. So President Obama went out and gave more than a hundred remarks, speeches, press conferences, and town-hall orations. But somehow voters resisted the president’s silver-tongued oratory. The more the president talked, cajoled, and explained, the greater public opposition to the bill grew. That January, voters in Massachusetts sent Scott Brown to the Senate largely on the basis of his promise to vote against Obamacare.”
“The latest Rasmussen poll of likely voters shows that 66 percent of independents support the repeal of Obamacare, while only 30 percent oppose it. Since the Democrats, of course, are the party that passed Obamacare — without a single Republican vote — it’s amazing that independents are even more supportive of repeal than Democrats are opposed to it. Democrats oppose repeal by the tally of only 60 to 37 percent.”
“It’s hard to know if Democrats are serious about pursuing this course. If so, they are heading down a perilous political path. Here’s why: the more the public learns about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the more they dislike it — and they dislike it plenty right now. In addition, the thinking that continues to animate many Democrats — namely, that the only reason Obama’s health-care overhaul isn’t wildly popular is because of a “communications problem” by the White House and congressional Democrats — is wholly in error.”
“Christmas gift-giving always begins with a wish list. This year, conservatives yearning to halt the government-driven health care provisions of Obamacare are making their list – and hoping the new GOP majority won’t hesitate to check it twice.”
“But while the health-care issue has been problematic for the Democrats, it hasn’t worked particularly well for Republicans either, 1994 notwithstanding. That may have just changed. The Democratic Party’s association with unpopular government-run health care has now become so complete on a political level that the issue now may become a distinct advantage for Republicans going forward. That would be revolutionary.”
“And yet the future of our health care system need not depend at all, as the future of our legal system unfortunately does to a considerable degree, on the whims of Justice Anthony Kennedy. Obamacare is a disaster for a host of reasons of which the individual mandate is only one. The 112th Congress need not wait for the courts to decide the fate of the mandate. For reasons constitutional, economic, and moral, Congress can repeal Obamacare and replace it with real health care reform.”
“The decision on the individual mandate handed down today by U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson in the Eastern District of Virginia makes it clear that Obamacare is on extremely shaky legal ground. That’s fitting, because it’s been on shaky political ground for well over a year now. Today’s decision — possibly joined by others in the weeks ahead — is going to strengthen the already strong perception that this law was ill-advised from the get-go and needs to be repealed to make way for a more sensible, consensus-driven program.”