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Tuesday, March 23, 2010

a plan of action??

It is very interesting to see the reactions to the passage of the Obamacare bill in the House and its signing today. Many reactions are bizarre and others dishonest. For example, the rhetoric about starting immediately to repeal the law is truly foolish to the point of being couterproductive. There is no way that Congress will overturn this law that it just passed. Sure, maybe next session after the election the law could be repealed, but even that is a remote possibility given that it would require a two thirds majority to overturn the Obama veto. Only with the agreement of some Democrat senators could that point ever be reached. No, repeal is only a possibility after 2012 if Obama is defeated.

The Democrat mantra of how wonderful Obama was to get this passed is a good example of a dishonest reaction. Obama never was successful in convincing the American people of the merits of the bill. Indeed, Obama only managed to convince his own true believers, the Democrats in the House, to pass this bill on the slimmest of margins. This is not a mark of Obama's success, but rather of his obstinancy. He kept pushing for passage no matter the cost to his party and the remainder of his program. If, as is now expected, the Democrats pay a heavy price in 2010 for passing Obamacare despite opposition from the American people, Obama's great success will be the destruction of his majority.

The lawsuits by the various state attorneys general to overturn the statute will have no chance of success unless the Supreme Court decides to overturn decades of precedent concerning the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. While that could happen, it is highly, highly unlikely. These suits, in my opinion are another irrational response.

the only valid response that I see is to use Obamacare as a rallying cry against the continued ascendancy of the Democrats. "You elected them and they ignored your wishes" seems like a very effective point to use against those who voted for this mess. Hopefully, Obamcare will translate into a GOP majority in both House and Senate -- although the house seems like the only realistic possibility in 2010.

Imagine what will happen if the GOP takes control in 2011 and refuses to pass any bill that funds the efforts to enforce or progress the Obamacare plan moving forward. Imagine what will happen if the new GOP controlled House will only pass continuing resolutions at levels of 85% of the current budget or at levels set in the 2008 budget. Will Obama allow the government to shut down? It would be an extraordinarily high stakes poker game, but it might well rescue the public purse from those who think it is limitless.

We are living in interesting times!

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