Get Ready for Obamacare Redux
Bloomberg reported last night that the White House is preparing its liberal backers to begin planning for yet another debate about health care, this one potentially to take place in a second Obama term:
President Barack Obama is confiding to Democratic donors that he may have to revisit the health-care issue in a second term, a position at odds with his publicly expressed confidence that the U.S. Supreme Court will uphold [Obamacare], according to three Democratic activists….As he previewed his agenda for donors at a May 14 fundraiser, Obama said he may be forced to try to revise parts of his health-care plan, depending on how the court rules later this month, said one activist, who requested anonymity to discuss the president’s comments….The president has made similar remarks, usually in response to questions, at other fundraising events since the Supreme Court heard arguments in the case….Obama’s answers, which begin with the president repeating his contention that the high court will uphold the law, have led some contributors to conclude the White House is making contingency plans should the justices strike down parts of the law, which would give Republicans a powerful talking point about one of his signature issues.
It’s worth noting that, when addressing Congress on health care in September 2009, Obama proudly stated: “I am not the first President to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last.” Perhaps that statement was made before the President and his Democrat colleagues got “serious” about the Constitution, and discovered that it would be an unprecedented step for Congress to require all Americans to purchase a product for the first time ever. It’s nice that these liberals are finally coming to grips with the prospect of limited constitutional government – but it might have been better to do so BEFORE ramming through a massive 2700-page law that the American people didn’t want (and still don’t either).
Regardless, the President has already given his liberal base fair warning that Obamacare will be a topic for discussion in a second Obama term. I’m sure the White House will be sending out invitations to the C-SPAN cameras in no time at all…