On this weekend’s syndicated “Inside Washington” program, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer explained the potential political implications a Supreme Court decision overturning Obamacare could have on the national political environment.
According to Krauthammer, the decision would initially reflect very poorly on the Obama administration.
“I think the way it works is in the short run, it will be a devastating defeat for the president because his singular achievement will be shown by the [Supreme] Court to be unconstitutional,” Krauthammer said. “He’s supposed to be a constitutional expert. That’s not very good. People will say, ‘You’ve spent a year and a half on that, you ignored everything else.’”
In the long run, however, Krauthammer argued that an overturn might pay dividends for the Democratic Party.
“But I think in the longer run, which would mean after this year, after this election — it could have an effect of galvanizing liberals, who would say, ‘We worked for 100 years to achieve this. We passed it legally through the House and the Senate and the presidency. A rogue court struck it down.’ It could have an effect on the left that Roe v. Wade, in striking down all the abortion laws, had in radicalizing and energizing the conservative right or the religious right.”