This week, President Obama’s signature health care bill, also known as “Obamacare,” is in front of the Supreme Court for review. The nation’s highest court could rule to uphold parts or all of it or to dismiss parts or all of it. But how will their ruling affect the 2012 presidential election?
IF THE SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS OBAMACARE – it would be a huge win for President Obama. He spent a great deal of political capital getting the bill passed and a Supreme Court ruling in his favor would be a powerful vindication. Moreso, a positive ruling from the court would also remove the issue from the political debate in the fall. Republicans have been itching to use ObamaCare against the president in the general election. But if the court upholds the bill, Mr. Obama would no longer be the target. The Supreme Court would then be the deciding factor, removing the bulls eye from the president and placing it squarely on the court — and no Republican would dare challenge the Supreme Court on their final ruling. Although they would almost certainly try to repeal the law if they gained power in the fall.
IF THE SUPREME COURT DISMISSES OBAMACARE – it would be a blow to President Obama’s leadership, but not necessarily in the way you may think. Mr. Obama is a constitutional lawyer and a negative ruling from the court would question his legal knowledge in introducing such a bill. But the negative ruling would not necessarily be a bad thing for him in the fall election. An up or down court ruling would still water down the issue in the general election debate, limiting Republicans from utilizing what they believe to be their “trump card.”
On a side note, should Mitt Romney become the Republican nominee, he would also be a winner should the court dismiss the president’s signature health care bill. ObamaCare was primarily designed to be almost exactly like RomneyCare, which is the health care bill Mitt Romney once promoted while he was governor of Massachusetts. If the court strikes down ObamaCare, both President Obama and Mr. Romney could avoid having to discuss it in the fall, which could end up a win/win for both of their campaigns.
Conventional thinking says the Supreme Court doesn’t wish to touch this issue with a 10 foot pole. Interfering and overturning the law is something they’d much rather avoid and is not a huge part of the court’s history. So, many legal scholars believe they will take the position that since the law has already been passed. it will stay passed. Or in other words, they will uphold ObamaCare in an attempt to remain detached from the issue. Stay tuned…
"Conventional thinking says the Supreme Court doesn't wish to touch this issue with a 10 foot pole."I think that's probably an understatement. But this issue IS now before the Supreme Court. The Justices must rule on it and make no mistake about it..the outcome WILL have a Significant impact on the Presidential race and more specifically, on the perception of Pres. Obama's presidency.The truth is, of ALL the President's notable achievements I've expressed my disappointment before with what I feel was an absolute FAILURE on the part of the President and his team to adequately SELL "Obamacare" (explain how it works and its benefits ) to the American people."Obamacare" was supposed to be his "Signature" achivement and yet the effort of the President AND his team to treat it as such was, IMO, half-azzed at best. Call it arrogance or being just plain LAZY. I think it was mix of both. Now the President is forced to sweat this thing out…smh. Regardless of the outcome (and I hope it's positive), the President and his team… Read more »