Obamacare Means Polarization
Obamacare may as well mean polarization. Can Mitt Romney wake up a sleeping electorate?
If the Supreme Court ruling did one thing, it gave the election in November a theme for both the left and right. The issue will not be totally decided until the American people vote. Obamacare will not stand and the only way to make that stick is taking control of both Houses and the presidency in November.
No one is more sure of that attitude than widely-respected pollster, Scott Rasmussen who says concerning the Supreme Court ruling, “All that did was energize conservatives,” in an exclusive interview with Newsmax last Monday. He went on to say, “The conservative interest in the election was already much higher than that of moderates and liberals. It went up to really stratospheric levels right after the ruling. We don’t know if that will continue or if it’s just a temporary response to the news cycle.”
30 Million Americans Without Health Insurance
But the Conservatives will never get the sort of indignation necessary to win in November if they cannot outline their own plan to cover 30 million Americans without health insurance.
It’s that simple.
Telling the electorate that it is a drain on the economy is not enough. Economic recovery leads the list of major concerns voters have, but Obamacare, no matter how unpopular, has become a topic of concern that must be addressed – or readdressed depending on your side of the issue.
Healthcare Law One Reason Economy is Struggling
“If Mitt Romney and the Republicans are able to make the case that the healthcare law is one reason the economy is struggling, well that will certainly help,” Rasmussen added.
But Republicans have to put the same emphasis on healthcare as they do energy. They cannot allow the incumbent president to separate Obamacare from the failing economy in general. That requires alternative ideas and solid solutions. The economy itself must be all-inclusive.
Obamacare Should Be Repealed?
What the Republicans do have on their side before the campaigns go into full swing is half of the country – 52 percent of American voters – believe that Obamacare should be repealed. That is a major number that can be exploited if they can come to a cohesive answer that resonates with independents and conservative Democrats.
A majority of American voters have said “we want to see it repealed.” There has been little change in that aspect, even after the decision by the high court was announced a week ago. It will be interesting to see how many Democrats running for re-election in red states side with a modified version of Obamacare.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) would be a likely Democrat to side with any comprehensive Republican alternative as she fights for her political life in November. Times are so bad for McCaskill that she has already publicly announced she will not attend the Democratic National Convention in September.
Controversial Health Care Law
Democrats passed the controversial health care law even though they knew it was overwhelmingly unpopular. Their belief was that the voters would come around to their line of thinking once the “good stuff,” such as keeping your children on your insurance plan until age 26, was enacted.
That is why the “bad stuff” in the 2700 page bill was kept out of becoming law until after the 2012 elections. The majority of controversial sections and provisions are not scheduled to become law until January, 2012.
If Mitt Romney is Elected President
Fodder for the Romney campaign to exploit to potential voters who are only now beginning to show interest in the November election. Rasmussen predicted there would be virtually no chance the healthcare law would survive if Mitt Romney is elected president. That makes the issue black and white for voters staring at their ballots in November.
Romney is between a rock and a hard place raising challenges to the president’s policies. Whether it’s economic. Healthcare or energy policies, he can never pretend that the election is about him personally. The eyes and ears must be kept on the incumbent president, no matter how hard his campaign strategists try to change the subject.
His ace in the hole is Ronald Reagan’s famous line during his debates with Jimmy Carter in 1980…
“Are you better off than you were four years ago?”
That one line alone is attributed as the single most important moment in that campaign. Romney needs his own thought-provoking question that can be left open to undecided voters this October and early November. If people aren’t feeling better about their own personal finances by Election Day, it is almost certain Obama will lose.
No one disputes that this is the most defined presidential election in the last 52 years. Can Romney beat Obama, that’s the question.
