Way better than a super-PAC

Not being a legal scholar, I can say with zero authority that the Supreme Court of the United States ruling today on the Affordable Care Act of 2009 (aka Obamacare) was as expected.

While a few commentators will blame Chief Justice John Roberts, whose appointment by conservative President George W. Bush will be analyzed for weeks, I can only imagine the delight with which the Chief Justice exposed President Obama's deception that the individual mandate was not a tax, and having done so, hand the ugly baby back to the White House to explain and defend.  Though some at 1600 Pennsylvania are undoubtedly celebrating the Court's decision, the moment will dawn on them shortly that far from endorsing the onerous Obamacare law, the Supremes called their bluff.

A tax by any other name is still a tax.  Opponents of Obamacare now have the ruling of the US Supreme Court behind them to prove that Obamacare means raising taxes-- mostly on small businesses and self-employed earners, and burdening states with higher costs to provide Medicare.  In other words, by ruling in favor of the President, the Supremes have stripped away any pretense of good-versus-evil, exposing the skeleton of Obamacare as the unlimited taxation power grab that it always was.

The easy question is if Obamacare was so bad, why didn't the Supremes just do the honors and dispose of it?  The easy answer is, that's the job of Congress.  And in defense of Chief Justice Roberts, whose "political loyalty" will be attacked forevermore, I must say his majority opinion was the most conservative decision of the Court in many years for its explicit message that the Court will not legislate for those who legislate however poorly-- "It's not our job," so said the Court.

Finally, the Supremes could not have acted any better to energize the conservative political base in a hotly-contested election year, and for this alone Mitt Romney must be eternally grateful.  Unable himself to generate enough excitement or momentum for his candidacy, the Supremes have made a donation to his campaign far more valuable than any super-PAC.  Now Mr. Romney will enjoy the spoils of Obama's legal victory-- becoming at last the vehicle for a cause greater than himself.