Anticipating Obamacare Defeat

Don’t spike the ball if Obamacare is overturned.

John Boehner,  House Majority Leader, June 22, 2012

In my first term, we passed health reform. In my second term, I guess I’ll pass it again.

President Obama,  in  a remark before White House Correspondents Dinner, April  2012

June 24, 2012 – Buried on page 14 in today’s New York Times Sunday front-page section is this headline, “Putting on a Brave Face, But Preparing for Heartbreak on Health Care.”

Deeper down in the article copy is this paragraph,

“In grappling with what the court may do Mr. Obama now appears to be far past the denial stage (when they dismissed  constitutional challenges) but nowhere near acceptance (they still believe the law will be upheld).  Instead, they have quietly entered a surprising new stage that might be called Learning to Live With Universal Coverage.”

The brave new  argument runs like this:  Defeat will energize the liberal base, the public will demand retention of  popular features like coverage of  young adults up to 26 under parents plans and coverage for pre-existing illness,  and the President must be re-elected to so he can appoint a more liberal court  that supports  a bigger and more compassionate government.

Some of his supporters, like Jonathan Gruber,  an architect of Obamacare , is more realistic, “To have a voice as profound as the Supreme Court say it’s unconstitutional  would be bad news all round.”

Obama's heartache is heartache,  however you  parse it.

As John Keats (19795-1821) said in Ode to a Nightingale

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains

My sense , as though of hemlock I had drunk,

Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains,

One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk.

Hardhearted Republicans are not sympathetic.  After all, President Obama and the Deocorts completely ignored their advice and counsel while ramming Obamacard through.

Tweet:  If  Supreme Court rules Obamacare  unconstitutional,  it will be a heartache of President Obama, who staked his legacy on its acceptance