By JAMES TARANTO The Wall Street Journal
President Obama tried to convince lawmakers in his own party that Americas crisis" in health-care financing would turn to catastrophe if Congress did not radically expand government power over health care by this month. But if that was true why the haste? If ObamaCare is as good as Obama says it is why is he acting as if it cannot withstand scrutiny?
Despite huge Democratic majorities neither house of Congress passed any such legislation by the Obama deadline. He failed.
The presidents insistence on action without deliberation heightened the sense that ObamaCare was dangerous. He and friendly media outlets asked voters to trust his assurances that their medical coverage would not adversely affect them.
Was this merely a tactical error? Was an inexperienced administration overeager in attempting to sell an essentially meritorious plan?
Recent events suggest not.
If the plan were good you would expect its proponents to be staking their arguments on its merits. Instead they are turning this into a debate about the plans opponents. A telling video clip of Sen. Barbara Boxer (D. Calif.) on MSNBCs Hardball" has been making the rounds:
So all of this is a diversion by the people who want to frankly hurt President Obama. Youve heard the Republican senator Jim DeMint say it: Lets make this 
Obamas Waterloo lets break him. Thats what this is about.
And by the way I saw some of the clips of people storming these town hall meetings. The last time I saw well-dressed people doing this was when Al Gore asked me to go down to Florida when they were recounting the ballots and I was confronted with the same type of people. They were there screaming and yelling Go back to California" Get out of here" and all the rest of it...
So this is just all organized. Just go up on the Web site Chris. You in the media have to take a look at whats going on here. This is all planned. Its to hurt our president and its to change the Congress.
Most of the ensuing criticism has centered on Boxers weird fashion commentary. This may reflect no more than a regional difference: Californians tend to be more casual in their sartorial standards than regular people. Still its a head-scratcher why Boxer would think it is to her opponents discredit that they are well-dressed"--i.e. that they look respectable. But what caught our attention was the plaint that ObamaCare opponents want to hurt the president." It reminds us of those hilarious Leave Britney alone!" videos that were the rage on YouTube a couple of years back. How exactly does Boxer expect this to persuade anyone to support the legislation? DeMints Waterloo" quote was ill-considered because it suggested his concern was for partisanship and personality rather than policy. The president looked statesmanlike when he replied This isnt about me. This isnt about politics." But pro-ObamaCare Democrats seem to have internalized DeMints mistake. They are making their case on personality and politics while ignoring substance--because one assumes their position on substance is so weak. Boxer is not alone in this. An even more bizarre video clip shows Speaker Nancy Pelosi being quizzed by a reporter:
Q: Do you think theres a legitimate grassroots movement going on here?
Pelosi: I think theyre AstroTurf. You be the judge. Theyre carrying swastikas and symbols like that to a town meeting on health care.
AstroTurf" also a trademark for a brand of fake grass here is a play on grassroots" a dysphemism for what is sometimes known as community organizing"--professionally staging protests and lending them credibility via the false impression of spontaneity. As far as we know Pelosis claim about swastikas" is the product of a fevered imagination. The Democratic National Committee has an ad out that strikes a similar note:Narrator: The right-wing extremist Republican base is back.
Crackpot at town meeting: He is not an American citizen!
Narrator: They lost the election. They lost on the Recovery Act the budget and childrens health care. Theyve lost the confidence of the American people after eight years of failed policies that ruined our economy and cost millions of jobs.
Now desperate Republicans and their well-funded allies are organizing angry mobs just like they did during the election. Their goal? Destroy President Obama and stop the change Americans voted for overwhelmingly in November.
Unidentified voice of Sen. Jim DeMint: It will break him.
Unidentified voice of Rush Limbaugh: I hope he fails.
Narrator: This mob activity is straight from the playbook of high-level Republican political operatives. They have no plan for moving our country forward so theyve called out the mob.
Same crackpot at same town meeting: And I want to know why are you people ignoring his birth certificate?
Narrator: Call the Republican Party phone number of GOP Washington headquarters appears on screen. Tell them youve had enough of the mob.
The ad does not identify the congressman whose town meeting was disrupted by the birther crackpot. It was Rep. Michael Castle of Delaware a Republican. So the
DNC expects us to believe that the RNC has called out the mob" against its own members!
Oh and in fairness to the crackpot we should note that she holds a tiny American flag and does not appear to display any swastikas or symbols like that."
The DNCs exhortation to phone the RNC is an obvious example of AstroTurf to which the RNC responded rather cleverly as the New York Times reports:
Those contacting the R.N.C. have been told by an automated system to press 1 if calling in reference to the D.N.C. ad. If they choose 1 they are then routed right on over to D.N.C. headquarters.
Politico reports that the president himself is participating in the campaign against ObamaCare opponents:In an unusual e-mail appeal President Barack Obama is asking millions of his campaign supporters to commit to attending at least one community event on health care this month.
Obama writes that opponents of his health care plan are filling the airwaves and the Internet with outrageous falsehoods to scare people into opposing change."
And some people not surprisingly are getting pretty nervous" he warns. So weve got to get out there fight lies with truth and set the record straight."
The e-mail shows up as being from President Barack Obama" with the subject line: This is the moment."
So lets review the arguments:
Republicans are bad they lost the last election and they have partisan motives for wanting to stop ObamaCare.- People who are angry about this are crackpots who display swastikas and other invidious symbols. Also their anger is insincere and they are shills of the RNC. They wear nice clothes and this is not to their credit.
- Some of the arguments against ObamaCare are false according to Obama.
- If ObamaCare is defeated Obama would be hurt.
Every day we dont act Americans watch their premiums rise three times faster than wages small businesses and families are pushed towards bankruptcy and 14000 people lose their coverage entirely. The cost of inaction is simply too much for the people of this nation to bear.
In other words the crisis" is so urgent that any thoughtful deliberation would entail intolerable delay. This is the same old argument that has already failed. If this is the best the president can do he deserves to lose resoundingly. If that hurts him theres always aspirin. Obamas Culture War The Associated Press reports on another contentious provision of ObamaCare:Health care legislation before Congress would allow a new government-sponsored insurance plan to cover abortions a decision that would affect millions of women and recast federal policy on the divisive issue.
Federal funds for abortions are now restricted to cases involving rape incest or danger to the health of the mother. Abortion opponents say those restrictions should carry over to any health insurance sold through a new marketplace envisioned under the legislation an exchange where people would choose private coverage or the public plan.
Abortion rights supporters say that would have the effect of denying coverage for abortion to millions of women who now have it through workplace insurance and are expected to join the exchange.
Advocates on both sides are preparing for a renewed battle over abortion which could jeopardize political support for President Barack Obamas health care initiative aimed at covering nearly 50 million uninsured and restraining medical costs.
This obstacle should have been anticipated. A large number of voters--and congressmen including some Democrats--have strong moral objections to abortion. Some may support or at least be willing to accept socialized insurance if it does not include subsidized abortion. So why not simply define elective abortion for the purpose of any federally run insurance plan as an uncovered service like cosmetic surgery or laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis? This would be a tough pill for pro-abortion lawmakers to follow since by their lights abortion is morally unobjectionable and is no less appropriate a medical response to pregnancy than are prenatal and maternal care. Obama one presumes agrees with that position. But surely it is not so important to him to be worth sacrificing the entire project of health-care reform" for what would be a Pyrrhic abortion victory anyway since the status quo involves no federal money for elective abortion. Had he shown the alacrity and leadership from the start to keep abortion out of the bill he would have spared his side at least one big and potentially fatal fight.
