Shorter James Carville: I Reject Reality, And Substitute My Own!

Writing in The Hill, Democrat strategist James Carville does his best Baghdad Bob impression.

The fundamental consideration is this: if the election were held in the current climate, it wouldn’t be hard to argue that the Democrats might have a bad, perhaps even awful, election ahead of them. However, the one thing we know is that it is not going to be held now — it is going to be held in November. This is a case where we don’t know if there is going to be a political climate change or not. Suffice to say, I am pulling for some political climate change.

Let’s apply the same logic in terms of the Affordable Care Act, or ObamaCare, if you must. Is the law and its implementations likely to stay the same, get worse or get better? A fair analysis of recent polling shows that while current polls are not impressive, they are improving slightly. In the March 7-10 edition of Bloomberg’s poll, 64 percent of Americans support the law outright or support changes to it. That is up from 60 percent in Bloomberg’s December poll. Well, in that same poll, 72 percent said the healthcare law will affect their voting decision. If we continue on this trajectory the climate might be more favorable.

It’s the same thing with the economy: look at the December, January and February jobs numbers. We have had some pickup, although it’s been slower than most would like. Will it continue? I am not sure, but it is not unreasonable to assume economic conditions will be better in November.

Carville’s is about an optimistic take on Obamacare as it is currently possible to write. Carville lumps in people who want Obamacare changed — in any way — with those who still support it. That’s just dishonest. A majority have consistently opposed that law since before the Democrats passed it without a single Republican vote. That’s reality.

In the same publication Carville’s piece is published, Elise Viebeck brings more reality to bear: Health insurance industry leaders expect that Obamacare will force them to raise premiums, by a lot in many cases. Obama’s reaction to setbacks has been to delay parts of Obamacare — against the law — about 34 times so far. That is adding to the chaos and, according to the health insurance company leaders, making it even more expensive.

More reality: The employer mandate hasn’t even kicked in yet. Once it does, tens of millions more Americans get a taste of Obamacare. That mandate has been delayed until after the election, which is about the only thing saving Democrats from an epic calamity this fall.