ObamaCare: You Can’t Outsmart the Middle Class

That which in England call the middle class in America is virtually the nation.

Matthew Arnold (1822-1888), A Word about America, 1882

America is a middle class nation. About 85% of us, 240 million, fall into that category.

When President came into office, he made a critical error. He decided to focus on the 36 million people, 12% of the population, without health insurance on the lower rungs of the economic ladder rather than those in the middle of the ladder.

Jonathon Gruber, arguably the “architect” of ObamaCare claims proponents of the health law thought they could pass it by outsmarting stupid voters in the middle class. This may be too cynical a view. The intent may have been to advance the "social good," as defined by the elite.

The middle class was not impressed. From the onset, voters in 2012 and 2014 midterms rejected the law. Today 37% favor the law while 56% oppose it.

President Obama and the Democrats may have outsmarted themselves.

In a speech at the National Press Club yesterday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says Democrats "blew the opportunity the American people gave them" in 2008.

"After passing the stimulus, Democrats should have continued to propose middle-class oriented programs and built on the partial success of the stimulus."

"Unfortunately, Democrats blew the opportunity the American people gave them. We took their mandate and put all of our focus on the wrong problem -- health care reform."

"The plight of uninsured Americans and the hardships caused by unfair insurance company practices certainly needed to be addressed, but it was not the change we were hired to make. Americans were crying out for the end to the recession, for better wages and more jobs, not changes in health care.”

Schumer said the focus on Obamacare was wrong because it would only affect a small portion of the electorate, concluding it was not beneficial to the Democratic party to focus on health care reform.

"The Affordable Care Act was aimed at the 36 million Americans who were not covered. "It has been reported that only a third of the uninsured are even registered to vote. In 2010 only about 40% of those registered voting. So even if the uninsured kept with the rate, which they likely did not, we would still only be talking about only 5% of the electorate."

So today, the Obama administration is faced with a middle class revolt. The law has been disastrous for the middle class – who have seen their premiums climb, their plans drop, their incomes decline, their future blighted, their hopes dashed.

It is not a pretty picture. It is why the midterm electorate voted to put Republicans back in charge of the economy. ObamaCare’s mandates, taxes, and regulations have harmed the economy and medical care of the middle class, the backbone of America.