HillaryCare is to ObamaCare

A slightly older, but young-at-heart, friend of mine emailed me today and told me that in his mind, the primary reason for the Republican congressional electoral victories in 1994 was due to a backlash against HillaryCare, the single payer health care overhaul proposed by the Clintons earlier that year. He explained that the very proposal of socialized medicine caused the pendulum to swing back in favor of the GOP. However, some say it was the opposite - that the Clinton's ineffeciveness in bringing about major health care change caused Clinton Congress. Not surprisingly, the same arguments are occurring with the passage of ObamaCare, except, since it passed, the Republicans say that the ram-through will lead to GOP landslides while the Democrats argue that its passsage will buffer them against any electoral correction as people will see the goodness behind the law by election time. Upon the passage of ObamaCare, I said, and still believe, that the Republicans will take both houses, midterm trend aside. I believe Americans will no longer have to endure the Pelosi bob or the Reid-isms primarily because people are angry. And, everyone knows - anger, even more than sandwiches and free rides to the polls - motivates voters to turn out and toss out those to which their anger is directed. And, as I pointed out yesterday, voter anger and disapproval with Congress is at 72%. That number has not been as high since October of 1994. What has changed since the 2008 elections and now? Yes, the economy isn't great, but unemployment has remained relatively flat and has even declined a tad in the past two months. Yes, the $787 billion stimulus seems to have been a bust by all accounts, save the insanely-named bureaucratic body that counts the jobs they "created," but public anger didn't swell upon it's passage. Perhaps the partisan passage of this bill began to roll the ball of public opinion down the hill, but it wasn't until the health care debate came front and center and STAYED front and center, that "weak" candidates and campaigns caused Democratic losses in New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts. You will never get a Democrat to admit that the health care proposal caused these losses, just as they'll spin defeats in 40 seats in the House and 11 seats in the Senate come November, but deep down, they'll know. It'll be so much fun listening to them try to explain why all the speeches in the world couldn't convince the American people that self-interested congressmen know what's better for them than they do.