Random Observations on SCOTUS ruling

++Mitt Romney vowed in his first statement that he would repeal Obamacare his first day in office. What was particular was that Romney didn't offer any alternatives as his policy going into the election .


++Republicans are seizing on the Supreme Court's argument for the mandate as a tax. So naturally, Obama raised everyone's taxes. Actually the real mechanics of how the mandate would work reveals that only a very tiny segment of the population would actually pay such a fee, the rest would be given tax credits and subsidies.


++Eric Cantor said that the House would vote on totally repealing Obamacare the week after the July 4th vacation. It is almost like asking sitting members to vote for Paul Ryan's budget again. I'm not so sure that voting against the many popular provisions is a surefire to win votes.


++David Frum says that repeal is a fantasy. He outlined when the ACA was passed that it was a dark day for conservatives, which they could capitalize on in a short term (The 2010 elections) but that as the provisions become known the American people will actually like it and feel entitled to it.


++Women won a big victory today because the law prohibits health insurance companies from charging higher premiums for women than men, something that is a standard practice.


++The extreme right has been tweeting they will move to Canada. Like Rush Limbaugh's pledge to move to Costa Rica when Obamacare is implemented,it is peculiar that conservatives select countries with national healthcare systems.


++The President actually thought the bill had been overturned because of the snafus by CNN and Fox, which trumpeted the defeat of the individual mandates. D.C. wags suggest this was the President's Truman moment where he would be photographed with the Chicago Tribune saying Dewey won.


++The health care ruling ranks with Medicare and Medicaid as the largest expansion of health care in 45 years. While observers debated over the meaning of the Supreme Court's cautious approval of the expansion of Medicare,this will prove an enormous benefit to the uninsured and the poorest among us.


++Does anyone get the sense that today's contempt vote against Attorney General Holder was meant as the double sammy against Obama. To time the vote on the day of the Supreme Court ruling was a no accident. If healthcare had gone down and Attorney General Holder was cited with contempt,the double act would have been fodder for ads to demonstrate the president was weak and ineffective. Now it seems like sour grapes, particularly now that Fast and Furious has been exposed as a phony crisis.


++The healthcare ruling cements President Obama's first term as an historic achievement. Whether he can generate momentum from this victory is yet to be seen. Within an hour of the decision, the Romney campaign had raised $400,000.


++I can't help but think that Romney now has to scramble. He muffed his moment on immigration. He actually did offer some constructive ideas when he talked to the Latino community, except those ideas went counter to his primary statements. He is stuck with his endorsement of the Arizona law, which was struck down except for the Papers Please clause, its most controversial component. Now the Supreme Court has ratified Romneycare and he must campaign against the decision. How do you do that? Do you refute all the popular provisions and say you would keep them and then attack the mandate? And if you do, don't you argue against your only achievement as Governor? 


++The Most amusing reactions have been the psychobabble on Justice Roberts. Why he endorsed the mandate? Why he became the swing vote? Did he really back Kennedy's dissent and change sides? Did he sneak a poison pill in the decision about the limits of the Commerce Clause?


++MSNBC got the ruling right but was criticized early for doing so. Then they had a live feed for Boehner's reaction, which never came as he said he would comment later. He was clearly blown away by the decision. 


++Nancy Pelosi did spike the football because she had played such a pivotal role as Speaker in getting it passed. She had Mrs. Ted Kennedy, Victoria, at her side to remember Senator Kennedy's lifelong dream of this day. 


++The entire trade union movement hailed the decision and promised to keep agitating for more change. The NEA was the most effusive pointing out what it means for kids--alot.


++The bettors on Intrade took a pounding as they had driven the odds up to over 70% that it would be reversed.


++The astroturf organizations like Americans for Prosperity claimed it was a travesty. Scott Walker said he would not implement the law. Our head tea bagger Senator de Mint from South Carolina vowed to use nullification against the law. Rand Paul basically called out the Supreme Court as no longer an institution deciding what is constitutional. It all sounded like the Supreme Court just allowed blacks to vote--and not that Americans have the right to healthcare.


++Virginia's Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli bragged that the wording of the section on expanding Medicare would allow him to save $100 of millions for the state because he won't allow it to occur.


++From here on, it is best to ignore the complaints about the Healthcare bill. What has been ratified serves as a good platform for ensuring the whole country and not the wealthy have access to healthcare. What are slight problems can be tweaked to work better. Think of it this way--we are becoming more like Switzerland, which does mandate every individual pay for healthcare.