Hoover Institution senior fellow Thomas Sowell argued Tuesday that the defund Obamacare effort is serving as a helpful distraction from President Obama’s low approval ratings and the controversies facing the administration.
In his weekly column, Sowell pointed out that while the Obamacare law should be defunded, efforts to defund it are only pulling attention away from Obama’s vulnerabilities, including discontent among his own supporters, criticism on Syria, the continuing IRS scandal, Benghazi and the unfolding of the “train wreck” Obamacare.
“What could possibly rescue Barack Obama from all these political problems and create a distraction that takes all his scandals off the front page? Only one thing: the Republicans,” Sowell wrote.
“By making a futile and foredoomed attempt to defund ObamaCare, Congressional Republicans have created the distraction that Obama so much needs,” he continued. “Already media attention has shifted to the possibility of a government shutdown.”
According to Sowell, the fact that Republicans are not looking to shut the government down does not matter. The real issue is that they have created a distraction large enough to give Obama cover, he said.
While the respected economist wrote harshly about the Republican effort to defund Obamacare, he agreed with the premise, saying the law “is an economic disaster and will be a medical disaster, as well as destroy the Constitution’s protections of American citizens from the unbridled power of the federal government.” It should “absolutely” be defunded, he said.
He added that both Obama and Chief Justice John Roberts deserve impeachment for “arbitrarily waiving laws” and “his decision upholding Obamacare” respectively.
However, Sowell noted, “for the same reason that it makes no sense to impeach either President Obama or Chief Justice Roberts, it makes no sense to attempt to defund ObamaCare. That reason is that it cannot be done. The world is full of things that ought to be done but cannot in fact be done.”