The man who saved America

The reaction to the Supreme Court ruling yesterday that declared ObamaCare to  be legal was swift and palpable. The most consistently accurate polls have shown that already more than half of Americans supported repeal of the law prior to the court’s ruling.

Expect that number to dramatically increase, now that it has become clear the law is nothing more than a massive new tax disguised as yet another entitlement provided “for free” by the federal government.

Within minutes of the announcement, people on Facebook began to express renewed enthusiasm to vote this November.

Within hours, the law had a new nickname: Obamatax.

The conventional wisdom soon became that Chief Justice John Roberts had caved in to pressure from President Obama, and gave the Democrats a clear victory on his crowning achievement, the horribly misnamed Affordable Care Act.

Indeed, the early analysis showed that the final decision came so late in the game that the dissent was worded as if written by the majority, and vice versa.

The ultra liberal Daily Kos celebrated the ruling, opining that the decision “breaks the heart of every Republican and Federalist Society member.”

A liberal analyst at Slate crowed that “It is impossible for a lawyer to read even the first few pages of the dissent without coming away with the impression that this is a majority opinion that at the last moment lost its fifth vote. Its structure and tone are those of a winning coalition, not that of the losing side in the most controversial Supreme Court case in many years. But when we get to Page 13, far more conclusive evidence appears:  No less than 15 times in the space of the next few pages, the dissent refers to Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s concurring opinion as “Justice Ginsburg’s dissent.”

Reaction from “the far right” and often cruel Michael Savage was to speculate that Roberts’ judgment had been impaired by his medication for epilepsy, a comment to be expected of ultra-liberal Susan Estrich–but not from a conservative.  In case you don’t remember, Estrich famously said to Michael Kinsley, suffering from Parkinson’s disease: ” Your refusal to bend to my demands “underscores the question I’ve been asked repeatedly in recent days, and that does worry me, and should worry you: people are beginning to think that your illness may have affected your brain, your judgment, and your ability to do this job.”

But a funny thing happened on the way to the DNC victory celebration. People finished reading the ruling and began to grasp what really happened yesterday.

More analysis began to appear, and moods began to swing.

Conservatives appalled by the Supreme Court’s upholding of ObamaCare began to understand and disseminate the subtle nuances of what now appears to be one of the most brilliant strategic moves in all of recorded history, worthy of Machiavelli. One writer even decided the ruling was payback for Obama’s verbal assault on the Supreme Court.

Here’s what Roberts accomplished by ruling for ObamaCare: the federal government can no longer abuse the commerce clause to expand their power. By allowing the states to “opt-out” without penalty, he effectively pulled the teeth from the law. As the chief justice wrote as part of his majority decision, “It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.”

While giving the appearance of exercising considerable judicial restraint, Roberts delivered a very clear message to the voter.

The ramifications of the ruling continued to sink in, improving the mood of conservative analysts as the day went along and making the more astute liberals profoundly unhappier.

At American Thinker, law professor Dov Fischer concluded, “The ObamaCare tax does not apply to those who presently are untaxed, and it will not apply to the more wealthy, who will be excused because they carry health insurance anyway. Rather, the President who promised no new taxes against the middle class conclusively has been “outed” by the Chief Justice as having imposed the biggest tax on middle-class Americans in a generation.”

GOP consultant Keith Appell went even further, saying, “Chief Justice John Roberts has all but gift-wrapped the election for Republicans with this ruling. Now every single Democrat will have to defend the largest tax increase in American history during a bad economy in an election year.”

As the smoke clears, several things become obvious. An electorate demoralized by this administration’s selective enforcement of laws and federal abuse of power has suddenly been energized to vote this November. The House of Representatives will clearly vote for repeal of Obamatax, putting pressure on incumbent Democrat senators to either risk their seat or cross the aisle. Nobody wants to pay more taxes, especially the middle class, and the truth about this law has been exposed without giving the Democrats a rallying cry for November.

Thanks to John Roberts, it’s clear what ObamaCare really is–Obama’s massive new tax on the middle class.

Conversely, Republicans have a major tool for motivation of voters to turn out in a few months, courtesy of the brilliant maneuvering by Chief Justice John Roberts…the man who just may have saved America from itself.