Day: March 22, 2013

ObamaCare At Three Years: A Significant Moment In American History!

It has now been three years since ObamaCare became law, and the full extent of the law will take effect in 2014, but already millions of Americans have benefited from the provisions, including children covered to age 26, lower drug costs for seniors, and pre-existing conditions no longer a reason to deny a child or adult’s ability to gain health insurance coverage.

The health insurance companies have raised rates in a desperate attempt to harm ObamaCare, and the Republican House of Representatives has voted 36 times to repeal the health care legislation, but it has all been for show, and there is no way that ObamaCare will be repealed, even if the Republicans gained the Senate in 2014, as the President would be able to veto a repeal, and the GOP could never gain a two thirds override to overcome the Presidential veto.

And any attempt to repeal, were it possible to achieve, would so disrupt the health care being made available to up to 50 million or more people, that it would be a crime to take away what has been gained by those who did not have health care coverage before!

Health care has been transformed forever, thanks to the support of Chief Justice John Roberts, who had the decisive vote last June, and he will go down in history in a positive light, and it is hoped that his views on constitutional matters will become more moderate, and that he will back gay marriage, support continuation of the Voting Rights Act, and take an enlightened position on other issues.

But even if he does not, Roberts has changed the course of history, with the assistance of the four Democratic appointments to the Supreme Court!

Last Four Originally Elected Democratic Presidents Were Underdogs: Will That Happen Again In 2016?

In the past half century, four Democratic nominees for President, all considered “underdogs”, were elected President.

John F. Kennedy was an underdog in 1960, being a Roman Catholic nominee, thought unlikely to be nominated or elected, but defeating Vice President Richard Nixon, who was far better known.

Jimmy Carter was an underdog in 1976, the first Southern nominee for President since Zachary Taylor in 1848, and really considered the longest of long shots to be the Democratic nominee, and yet won the Presidency over President Gerald Ford.

Bill Clinton was an underdog in 1992, considered part of the “second tier” of possible Democratic nominees for President, and thought to be “dead in the water”, due to the Gennifer Flowers sex scandal, but managing to be the “Comeback Kid”, and win the nomination and the election against President George H. W. Bush.

And Barack Obama was certainly considered an underdog to Hillary Clinton in 2008, and being African American, seemed a particularly “long shot” to go all the way to the Presidency, defeating Senator John McCain of Arizona.

All four Democratic winners all had youth–Kennedy at 43, Carter at 52, Clinton at 46, and Obama at 47 years of age. And get this–these four men were elected exactly SIXTEEN years apart–1960, 1976, 1992, and 2008!

Could this happen again?

Hillary Clinton is seen as the clear front runner, and Joe Biden is the second established “veteran” in the potential race for President in 2016.

But could it be that Governor Martin O’Malley of Maryland, or Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York, or Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, or Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, or Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, or a future Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, or Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts would end up as a sudden surprise during the primaries and caucuses in 2016, and emerge the nominee and the winner of the Presidency?

Who can say, but the past COULD be an indicator of the future!