It's About Repealing Obamacare

I feel certain that the Republican nominee can beat Obama on the issue of PPACA alone. The steady drip of bad news about the bill is poisoning residual public support for it. The bill was never popular and support for it is slightly lower now, than when passed, at 35%. More importantly the issue that has captured popular outrage, but is central to making the plan work, is as unpopular as ever:

On the key issue before the Supreme Court, however, public opinion is clear. Nearly 6 in 10 in say they oppose the law’s requirement that Americans carry health insurance, except in cases of financial hardship, or pay a fine to the government.

Regardless of polls, there is plenty to hate about the law, which Dean has covered extensively. But more bad news continues to torture us. From the Congressional Budget Office:

The ACA’s provisions related to insurance coverage are now projected to have a net cost of $1,252 billion over the 2012-2022 period; that amount represents a gross cost to the federal government of $1,762 billion, offset in part by $510 billion in receipts and other budgetary effects (primarily revenues from penalties and other sources).

Here is what the the CBO said originally (which was based on some lies like the doc fix not getting fixed and the CLASS Act saving money).

CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimate that enacting both pieces of legislation H.R. 3590 and the reconciliation proposalwould produce a net reduction in federal deficits of $143 billion over the 2010-2019 period as result of changes in direct spending and revenues.

From deficit reduction to deficit builder, all because this was built on a tissue of lies. Calling Obama account for those lies should be a center piece of the campaign.

Another reason to bring this issue front and center is that it causes Democratic Senators and Congressmen to distance themselves from Obama. That can't help him win re-election. From Forbes:

· Bi-partisan opposition to ObamaCare is brewing. When the House of Representatives votes next week on repealing ObamaCare’s unaccountable, unelected IPAB board, at least some Democrats are likely to support repeal. The IPAB repeal bill, sponsored by Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN), received bi-partisan support as it made its way through House committees, showing that Democrats are equally worried about the power of the board to usurp the job of the people’s elected representatives.

Because Obamacare so damages Obama's chances for re-election, I worry that what I consider a likely Supreme Court ruling that it is unconstitutional, will actually improve Obama's chances. If the Supremes also rule that the mandate is non-severable and the whole law is tossed, Obama's chances would be hugely boosted. See Daniel Heninger's article on Obama's plan to make real issues disappear.