Very Bright Silver Linings

Here is my quick takeaway from the Supreme Court's Obamacare ruling today.

As a conservative who doesn't believe in government-run healthcare, I would have preferred to have the whole thing thrown out. But as I reflect on what actually happened, I'm starting to think this is the second-best result:

1. Obamacare failed under the Commerce Clause. This is a BIG win for conservatives.

2. The Supreme Court just forced the American electorate to grow up, saying, "Don't pass the buck to us. You elected these people." This is very good for our society, leading to...

3. ...Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and the Democrat Party now own Obamacare lock, stock, and barrel. Zero Republicans voted for it. It is, and will remain, very unpopular. Especially because...

4. ...Obamacare can now only be characterized for what it is: a massive TAX INCREASE. That was the actual finding of the Court, and something the Democrats have vehemently denied since the inception of this scheme.

5. Obamacare is now a major issue in the presidential campaign, and Obama gets to defend it publicly for the next five months. Except...

6. ...he no longer gets to LIE about it. It is a tax increase, plain and simple, and the Supreme Court just boxed him in to having to defend it as such.

For these reasons, the shouts of jubilation you hear from the Left today will turn to wails of howling despair over the next five months. The Democrats own, as I said, lock, stock, and barrel, a deeply unpopular, massive tax increase that can only be defended as a massive tax increase. To my mind, Barack Obama is WAY worse off politically this afternoon than he was when he woke up this morning.

The Supreme Court did him no favors whatsoever, as far as I can tell. It might not even be a dark cloud with silver linings for conservatives. It might just be a bright, shimmering, silver cloud.