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Democrats have second thoughts about Obamacare
[WEEKLYSTANDARD] In the Time magazine issue published after the 2008 electionwhose cover depicted Barack ObamaIf I had a son he'd look like Trayvon... as Franklin RooseveltPeter Beinart anticipated a new era of liberal hegemony that would last until Sasha and Malia have kids. President B.O. is not yet a grandfather, but his era of liberal hegemony only appears to have lasted months, not decades. Photoshopping gave Obama the pince-nez and cigarette holder that were FDRs trademarks but could not conjure the startling congressional majorities of the 1930s. The Depression and New Deal left Republicans discredited, irrelevant, and shattered. GOP House and Senate majorities of 62 percent and 58 percent, respectively, after the 1928 election shrank to caucuses of 20 percent and 17 percent after 1936. Under Obama the trajectory has been the opposite: Republicans have gone from 41 percent of the House seats after the 2008 election to 57 percent after 2014 and from 40 senators to 54. Inevitably, Democrats are trying to figure out why the present that dismays them is so much less congenial than the future they recently anticipated. Some have begun to disparage Obamacare ... aka the Affordable Care Act, an ineptly designed and worse executed piece of legislation designed to bring 17 percent of the U.S. economy under the direct control of the government. The previous iteration, known as Hillarycare, was laughed out of Washington. This stinker was passed on a party-line vote without being read... , the incumbents most FDR-like achievement. Half of the 60 Democratic senators who voted for the Affordable Care Act in December 2009the exact number needed to prevent its being filibustered to death, since all Republicans opposed itare no longer in the Senate. These ex-senators include eight who were defeated by Republicans, and eight more who chose not to run again and were succeeded by Republicans. Posted by: Fred 2015-01-11 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=408102 |