The Republican Endgame on Obamacare

The Republican Endgame  by Mark Alexander

Despite all the Leftist rhetoric about ObamaCare being "the law which must now be funded," it was wholly rejected by Republicans in the Senate and House, along with many House Democrats. Thus, proposals to defund it, delay it or amend it are exactly in line with what our Founders expected legislators to do in the interest of defending and sustaining Rule of Law.

After 41 previous attempts to delay or amend this behemoth, House Republicans attached a "defund" DemoCare condition to its Continuing Resolution legislation (CR being that "pass the buck" gimmick to fund government without actually passing a budget -- which has not been done since George Bush's last year in office). Using the CR to make their case against nationalized health care effectively elevated Republican objections above the political din -- thanks in large measure to the much-maligned efforts of Sen. Ted Cruz. Republicans had no intention of "shutting down government," but have used the CR to force Democrat votes on defunding, delaying or amending key ObamaCare mandates.

Here is the Republican endgame (yes, there is one, even if GOP "leadership" is trying to catch up with the rank and file): There is a growing grassroots storm brewing in opposition to socialized medicine, now that the reality and consequences of ObamaCare are starting to sink in. Accordingly, some non-establishment Republicans in the House and Senate have thrown up a DemoCare dare, a measure to defund this job-killing budget-buster, which is really a strategic long shot effort to delay implementation of the "individual mandate" until after the 2014 election when Republicans believe they will have generated enough political opposition to the plan to significantly modify major portions of the law. Indeed, Obama has, for political expediency, already unilaterally (and unconstitutionally) delayed implementation of the employer mandate.

Of course, the House "defund tactic" won't pass the Demo-controlled Senate, so Republicans are banking that Demo Majority Leader Harry Reid will strip that measure from the current Continuing Resolution and send it back to the House, where Republicans will return a clean CR, but then replace "defund" with "delay" as a condition for raising the debt ceiling, which we hit sometime between 17 and 22 October. Additionally, they will return the debt ceiling legislation to the Senate with a "wish list" of other amendments, which should include one requiring that all members of the House and Senate and their staffs will be subject to all provisions of ObamaCare, as well as other items to include tax reform, approval of the Keystone pipeline, regulatory and entitlement reforms including means-tested Medicare, and a "chained" Consumer Price Index (CPI).

The delay measure, and most if not all of the other Republican amendments, will be rejected by the Senate, at which point Republicans should get out of the way and let the Senate send the Continuing Resolution and the upcoming debt ceiling legislation to Obama, thus allowing the ObamaCare mandates to go into effect as scheduled. (There is an old adage: When your adversary is defeating himself, don't interfere.)

The net effect of the Republican strategy is that, in advance of 2014, Democrats in the House and Senate will have to vote on a lot of measures and then will have to defend those votes ahead of the 2014 elections. In regard to the measure to "delay" the implementation of ObamaCare, Demo votes against that "compromise" will be judged harshly in states and districts with only modest support for ObamaCare, amid growing grassroots protests against Obama's socialized medicine scheme.

What will drive those grassroots protests?

Obama, the consummate narcissist, having embraced the name "ObamaCare," will himself, along with current and future generations of Democrats, suffer a reversal of political fortunes after ObamaCare is implemented. Why? Because every American of every political stripe who has any issue with health care, whether a hangnail or heart transplant, a delay in a doctor's office or in critical care for a loved one, will tie blame for their discontent like a noose around the necks of Obama and his Democrats, who were solely responsible for forcing this abomination upon the American people. No matter how Fab-Tastic ObamaCare may be for some Demo constituencies, Democrats are going to be the target of every health care complaint.

Even Demo National Committee chair and Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz can see that pitfall from her perspective in the House. She is insisting that Democrats "must not treat every minute provision in the law as sacred." She added that Demos "should be open to suggestions for improving the law." If Republicans successfully herd the inevitable consumer dissatisfaction and anger toward Democrats, the electoral awards will be substantial in 2014, 2016 and beyond. Of course, given that establishment Republican have a propensity for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, that's a big "if."