Das said:

Because of the way he handles opposition, Obama seems vey lost to me; I don’t think he even wants to be president anymore. #104 Whitehall: My prediction: I think continued opposition will unhinge Obama. He cannot stand opposition and doesn’t know how to handle it. He has been protected from it his whole life. Unless he cuts loose from his nutty left base he will have some kind of mental crisis.

I worry about this. I didnt watch the Joint Session the other night. But somebody (CRS) wrote about the anger that underlaid it, citing the references to falsity and lies and bad motives of the opposition. He is a very unhappy person. I did see the discussion with Steffie on Sunday when he went thru the mandate is not a tax argument. He wasn’t happy then. As his popularity declines, his ability to get anybody to do what he wants will decline as well. If the Permanent Bureaucracy starts bypassing him how will he cope? As noted above, he has no experience with frustrated ambition.

Mike Sylvester, above, to the contrary, if the Govt says I have to spend money on it, its a tax. They may take the govt out of the transaction, but its a tax nonetheless.