Good luck defunding Obamacare

It is rare that this blog, leftist as it is, agrees with much of anything that Karl Rove has to say but before being Leftist I strive to be a Pragmatist and in this I have to give Karl a tip of the hat.  His editorial in the Wall Street Journal is spot on.


While the House GOP is trying to work out a way to express their desire to defund Obamacare for the zillionth time this year, Independents are unimpressed with defund attempts by a rather staggering margin, making the issue a bit of a non-starter. Following that, a defund bill will almost certainly die in the Senate.

But let us assume that the Republicans manage to turn not one, not two, not three or four, but FIVE democrats away from the signature piece of legislation of the Obama years and manage to pass, somehow, a budget which actually defends Obamacare.  What then?

The President will veto it; that's what.

President Obama is done.  He will exit office in 2017 and will never run for another office again.  He has nothing to lose politically save for the presidential legacy he seeks to establish.  If the Republicans wish to dash their political hopes against the rocks of an implacable White House with the threat of a government shutdown I can think of few better ways to further marginalize their already slipping party.

If you want to know how this will end, look at the image at right.  It's an image of the White House Press Room; it's where the President and his staff speak with the most powerful names in political media on a daily basis and a search for the phrase "White House Press Room" turns up page after page of image results in Google.

Try to find an image of the House of Representatives Press Room.  While you search, ponder the wisdom of starting a shouting match with a guy who's holding a microphone.