- Muhammad Ali
I believe we will see just how crafty Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is in a few months, like in October when the real nastiness of the election hits.
The past ... animosity
Over the past few years President Obama has regularly talked trash about the Supreme Court. He's looked at the Court as a roadblock to his power and not the distinctly separate branch of government that it is. It's in Obama's nature as an old community organizer and he's made it publicly obvious many times.
Just one example: Obama's 2010 State of the Union speech where he tried to embarrass the Supreme Court in front of the entire world ... "Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests - including foreign corporations - to spend without limit in our elections,"
which is not true by the way.
You know that old saying "Paybacks are a bitch"? Yesterday, Roberts and his swing vote dished out political vengeance with a long inextinguishable fuse.
The present ... define the law
Remember that Congress, by law, holds the purse strings of the Federal Government. The IRS, who is the enforcer, is only part of Obama's Treasury Department but it is Congress and the President who write the tax code. The increase in "taxes" from the Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare) to business and individuals are now a major political headache for the Senate and House of Representatives regardless of party. Basically saying "It's your's, now suck it up!"
By legally re-characterizing the Obamacare penalties as a "Tax" the Court has also given Mitt Romney political ammunition that Romney never saw coming. Romney is known famously as a numbers freak. At Bain Capital he was known for his mastery of financial data. He is at last explaining economic data in plain language that everyday people can understand which is what he's needed to do for months now. Doh!
Whatever the case, the old "mandates" are now legally taxes. That is a serious game changer and it's going to be hard to find people who want more taxes ... and very hard to justify to anyone but the very rich, the dirt poor, and the Kool-Aid drinkers.
The future ... was that a left hook to the jaw?
The last thing anyone wants is another "tax" and this Court ruling gives us dozens of new "taxes". I'm not sure of the mechanism by which Romney feels he can repeal Obamacare, that remains to be seen. Even if he's not elected there just may be a Republican Congressional majority in November who can. All the Congressional cheerleaders for Obamacare now have to explain the new taxes. Ouch!
Face it, people are punch drunk with this recession and want to get back to work. It's even difficult for the government to fake the numbers like they used to do in the good old days. More regulations and taxes aren't going to help anyone or any company recover.
I've just got a hunch that yesterday's ruling was a torpedo in the boiler room for the Obama campaign that he won't be able to recover from ... just a hunch.
My 2¢ ...
Personally, I think there's many really good things in the health care plan that should have been passed decades ago back in President Johnson's administration like health screening, pre-existing conditions and, not being dropped for new illnesses. A lot of the pure evil of the health care insurance industry was addressed in Obamacare. What hopefully may never come to pass is some government bureaucrat standing between you and your Doctor telling them that they have to ignore their Hippocratic Oath and follow government policy instead of looking out for you best interests or saving your life.
Thanks for reading,
Frank ...
PS,
Memo to: Stuart Stevens, Romney campaign adviser
Like the halfwit know-it-alls of John McCain's 2008 campaign failed to realize until it was too late, this election is yours to lose.
