Juan Williams’ latest column reads like a weak attempt to troll the country.
Every political strategist working the fall elections sees a game changer coming by the end of the month.
That’s when the Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of President Obama’s signature legislative accomplishment, the Affordable Care Act.
The signature legislative accomplishment that he isn’t running on and doesn’t want to talk about.
The Democrats have a nuclear option in this political game if the high court throws out the healthcare law as unconstitutional.
That blowup-the-system button, not pushed since FDR’s attempt to stack the court with Democrats during the New Deal, is for Obama to use the bully pulpit of the White House, and the national stage of a presidential campaign, to launch a bitter attack on the current court as a corrupt tool of the Republican right wing.
That’s a “nuclear option?” Democrats have been popping that firecracker at the court since Citizens United, with Obama himself using a State of the Union address to join in while the justices were sitting right in front of him. It hasn’t changed the debate over that decision. It’s hard to see how yelling about any ObamaCare takedown would help them. Everyone is used to Obama whining when he doesn’t get his way.
The hardball political fact is that attacking the court will help the president’s campaign and it will damage the court for years to come.
A CBS News/New York Times poll released last week shows most Americans already believe the ruling on healthcare reform will be based on justices’ personal and political views. According to the survey, 55 percent of Americans believe the justices’ political ties will play a role in the healthcare decision.
An earlier CBS/New York Times poll from this month found an overwhelming majority of Americans, 76 percent, said the personal and political views of the Supreme Court justices influence their decisions in all cases — not just healthcare. The same poll found that 60 percent of Americans now believe that lifetime appointments for Supreme Court justices are a “bad thing.”
The bottom line is that public confidence in the Supreme Court, after controversial and political decisions in Bush v. Gore and Citizens United, is the most fragile it has been in a generation. And remember, the same polls have shown most Americans are not convinced the healthcare reform law is a good idea.
So…if SCOTUS does what most Americans want and expect, and then Obama denounces them, it helps Obama and hurts the court? That makes no sense at all. It could hurt the court, but it will hurt Obama more. It might be a Samson strategy — take down the whole house — but it’s no nuclear option.
The history of ObamaCare is that the Democrats have wanted a massive health care takeover since the time of Truman, but never had the majorities in place to get one until the 2008 elections. But after that election, the economy should have been the top priority. The Democrats instead wasted time debating among themselves on ObamaCare (the GOP couldn’t stop them), engaged in a host of shady tactics from passing bills in the dead of night and on holidays, “demon pass,” making backroom deals, not allowing members of Congress or the American people to read the bill before it was passed, and passing the bill on narrow partisan lines while claiming it was “bipartisan.” The majority of Americans never supported the bill. The majority wants it struck down. It is demonstrably hurting the economy. It fundamentally changes the citizen-state relationship and threatens to bankrupt state governments and kill off the private insurance industry. The president’s new argument is that he needs more time to fix the economy, but ObamaCare — whether SCOTUS strikes it down or not — stands as powerful evidence that he doesn’t deserve more time. When he had the majorities to fix the economy, he wasted his time and rammed through a bill that made the recession worse. His political and economic judgement are terrible and he deserves to be fired.
If ObamaCare is struck down, Obama will listen to voices on the left like Williams and will denounce the decision. But that will not help him. He will look like a man who wasted time on a bill that hurt and divided the country and is now whining that the court has followed the Constitution and stopped him.
Sounds like Juan is really trying to get back in the good graces of liberals after a brief flirtation with honesty.
Fox made a mistake hiring him. Should have left the carcass where the left had left it.
Yes, Brian, but don’t forget, Juan is a real reporter and you are just a blogger out in the sti…blogosphere.
ahh, i see juan is trying to use the old reverse psychology tactic of makefunofitsotheywillvotetheotherway. juan, our resident libcon only stays on the conservative news sites because the liberal ones don’t have any viewers. a manchurian mouthpiece, so to speak. i hear his new book is out ‘how to make up an excuse for any liberal screw up on a moment’s notice’. chapter 1 : blame bush. chapter 2: blame racism. chapter 3: make fun of the topic, like we did birthers. chapter 4: go on vacation and spend them into silence about the original topic. great read.
The history of ObamaCare is that the Democrats have wanted a massive health care takeover since the time of Truman, but never had the majorities in place to get one until the 2008 elections.
But Obamacare is an absurd pack of lies of monsterous scale and scope.
I think any rational Democrat (if that is not an oxymoron) would have been much happier with a much smaller program, that actually worked.
I think we should take Mr. Williams up on his plan and offer to abolish judicial review entirely.
a race voter, that’s all
“The hardball political fact is that attacking the court will help the president’s campaign and it will damage the court for years to come.”
Thank you, Juan Williams. In one sentence you gave the reason NOT to reelect our current president. He would rather weaken a co-equal branch of government than lose a political battle. Barack Obama is unworthy of the office he holds.
He obviously has no respect for the Constitution, which he has sworn to preserve, protect and defend.
Mr. Williams forgets (as do many Leftists) that there is this pesky thing called the US Constitution. The Federal government’s powers were meant to be quite limited. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case. The idea of the “Living Constitution” is effectively killing the Constitution. Williams is simply expressing the idea that whatever the Left wants can be justified by a creative reading of the Constitution.
The ideal of “utopian/progressive/communist” government in the U.S. is that there will be one central authority, supported by 535 chickens and abetted by 9 monkeys sitting on the bench. Then the “Constitution” can be interpreted ‘creatively’ and laws passed if and when necessary. I say if and when necessary since this President has already exceeded legal norms with respect to the use of Executive Orders and simply telling his Cabinet members to jump when told.
“It might be a Samson strategy — take down the whole house — but it’s no nuclear option.”
I recall reading that Samson was finished by that point. His eyes had been gouged out, his hair (strength) gone. He only waited for it to grow back so he could hit the Self-Destruct button. Perhaps an apt metaphor after all.
Yeah, it could hurt the court but not like Juan envisions. If the court rightly rejects ObamaCare and Obama denounces the decision then it will hurt Obama and those members of the court who sought to uphold the unconstitutional law. Denouncing the decision will only draw more attention to the widely unpopular and unconstitutional law and will cause people/voters to ask “do these people think there are no limits on the government?”. And it will erode any lingering thoughts that the court isn’t political… how can following the Constitution be political? Assuming the ruling will be to overturn then the Dem appointed justices would be doing themselves a favor by voting to overturn as a 5-4 decision will simply mean that “we’re a nation of men, not laws” and it just depends on who gets to choose the men.
We might as well be voting for the Muslim Brotherhood as tyranny is only an election away.
“Opinion: Defeat of healthcare law would erode voters’ trust in Supreme Court”–Cmomissar Juan
I already don’t trust the Supreme Court.
Though, I have to admit they’ve actually got a decision or two right in the last few years, which is pretty good for them.
Holy cow…..And all because a black man won an election? You folks do know that God sees your souls, right? I mean, you can hide your racism from some, but God sees what you are (so do your own children).
And all because a black man won an election……
I am requesting a ban based on ad hominem attacks.
Jimbo’s comments get relegated to spam.
When the arrogant, ignorant, incompetent, and mendacious Obama is retired to private life; when Romney is President; and when the angry left savages him, everything he does, and everyone who supported him, will you then say “Holy cow…all because a white man won an election?”
The Obamazation of Juan Williams has been a sad thing to watch. Unfortunately the process now appears to be complete, and most likely irreversible.
My latest Elm Street/Jackson Street poll shows strong disapproval of the president’s Affordable Care Act; my neighbors trust that the Supreme Court will declare this usurpation of citizen’s rights to be left alone to live in peace without an overbearing government breathing down our collective necks unconstitutional. If not, then there is no effective restraint on an unbridled federal government.
In effect, the Supreme Court will have declared the Constitution unconstitutional; to borrow Bismarck’s phrase, it will become nothing but ‘a scrap of paper’, not worth the paper it’s written on.
A passage of this law will effectively destroy the third branch of our government, for without a Constitution there is no need of a ‘Supreme’ court to interpret that which no longer exists.
Juan has really struggled after leaving the NPR nest. When I see him on TV or read his articles I feel a bit sorry for him. Seems like a very nice guy, but he just doesn’t have the firepower to keep up with bloggers and conservative commentators. Of course, that should be expected. How can someone with a cushy and essentially guaranteed job keep up with those that have to hustle everyday to keep their businesses running and capture new customers?
Juan, want to become a better reporter? Resign from Fox and start your own media business…like MM did.
Mr. Williams continues to disappoint….after being thrown to the wolves by the elite left for ‘standing on principle’, Juan was quickly and sincerely defended by most honest Americans that are tired of the left’s hypocrisy when it comes to tolerance. We made a mistake – we assumed that Juan’s principles were honest and consistent; obviously, they are not. It would appear that Mr. Williams’ ‘blackness’ is more important to him than anything else, and that’s a shame. I thought we had found an honest democrat after all, but it appears he’s just another liberal hack.
Go back to NPR, Williams. I hear there’s an opening for a new snake-in-the-grass.
I’m afraid that liberals can make a valid argument that Fox only hired Mr. Williams to make liberal ideas look foolish.
You know the Demo’s/Liberal’s/Progressive’s/Marist’s/Obama are getting desperate if they’ve enlisted Juan to carry water for them.