My Pessimism!

I was dead wrong; and I could not be happier about it!
by Charlie Leck

In my most previous blog I predicted, with great boldness, that the Supreme Court would declare the entirety of the Affordable Health Care Act to be unconstitutional. Ten minutes after the release of the court’s decision this morning, which declared the constitutionality of the law, I received a text message from one of my readers: “Such pessimism is unlike you!”

I predicted the law would go down by a 5 to 4 vote, assuming Chief Justice John Roberts would side with the conservative justices on the bench even as he almost always does. Roberts was the surprise. He moved over and voted with the 4 progressive members of the bench.

A great deal of reading needs to be done by a host of legal experts before we’ll have a complete understanding of the decision’s full meaning. Hang on to your hats!

The Republicans have greeted the decision as you might expect – with promises to repeal the law and replace it with something better. It is possible to make the law better and there is no doubt about that. That is somewhere, however, that I expect the Republicans will not go. Their real goal will be to put in place a law with no teeth and no guts.

ABC took a statement from Congresswoman Michel Bachmann...

“I am deeply disappointed by the court’s decision,” Bachmann’s statement reads in part. “Today’s Supreme Court decision raises the stakes for the coming months. Since Congress passed Obamacare in 2010, I have made its repeal my top priority. … I disagree with the court’s ruling and expansion of government power under the commerce clause. Government should never have the right to tell Americans what they must purchase.”

Soon Bachmann will be talking all about repeal. That won’t happen in this Congress and she’ll need to wait until after the election (and hope that she can win in her district against a tough opponent, Jim Graves).

The Speaker of the House is fit to be tied. Mr. Boehner is promising swift congressional action. (Don’t bet on that!)


This remarkable and comical encounter was also reported by ABC News...

Pelosi proceeded to a hastily-called Caucus meeting to go over the decision with Members. On the way she ran into Congressman George Miller. The two hugged and had this exchange:

Pelosi: What a great victory!

Miller: You bet your ass.

Pelosi: I did. (both laughed at her joke).

We’ll know much more about the court’s decision tomorrow and I will write about it on Saturday morning.