Losing Health Care Debate in Court Would Benefit Democrats, Says Strategist
Democratic strategist James Carville was one of the architects of Bill Clinton's victory in 1992 and has played a key role in party politics for the last 20 years. Now Carville is saying if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns parts of Obamacare, the Democrats may well benefit in the November elections.
"I think that this will be the best thing that ever happened to the Democratic Party because health care costs are gonna escalate unbelievably," said Carville Tuesday on CNN's Situation Room. "I honestly believe this, this is not spin."
Carville was referring to the Obama administration's Affordable Care Act that came under scrutiny this week when Supreme Court justices heard oral arguments on the provision that mandates that individuals buy health care insurance.
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"You know what the Democrats are going to say, and it is completely justified, 'We tried, we did something, go see a 5-4 Supreme Court majority.' Then the Republican Party will own the health care system for the foreseeable future."
Erik Erikson of RedState.com took issue with Carville's comments by saying if the Supreme Court overruled parts of the act that they would be speaking on behalf of millions who don't agree with the rigorous mandates.
"Both sides, not just the Democrat side, even if the laws were upheld or struck down, there is a 5-4 conservative majority, and historically you see Republicans picking justices who have a greater propensity to gravitate to the left than you see Democrat judges propensity to gravitate to the right," said Erikson in response to Carville. "This will be an undercurrent issue for both sides, though."
However, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) who chairs the Democratic National Committee, also took issue with Carville. "What would be great for Americans is if the justices uphold the Affordable Care Act, so that we can make sure the Republicans aren't allowed to drag us backward to the days where insurance companies are making the decisions for what's best in terms of your health care," she told CNN.
The Supreme Court will most likely decide the issue sometime this summer as lower courts have both upheld and struck down President Obama's prized health care plan.
Not only is the president's health care plan causing division of the two major parties, the GOP presidential candidates are also pointing fingers at one another over who would and would not repeal the plan if elected. In a press release sent out from the Santorum campaign on Tuesday, they asked, "How can we trust that Mitt Romney will repeal Obamacare?
"After implementing socialized medicine as Governor of Massachusetts, Romney advocated for implementing Romneycare nationwide, so why should we believe now that he will repeal Obamacare when he helped put it in place."
Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts has taken criticism for implementing his own health care plan, often referred to as "Romneycare."
In a recent Reason/Rupe poll, 50 percent of Americans had an unfavorable view of Obama's health care plan and 62 percent believed the individual mandate was unconstitutional.
