America and the GOP Must Oppose Obamacare Now

Whether Obamacare is good or bad as a health care system is no longer the question. Americans have already come down on one side or the other of that question - and in the latest poll, a majority of Americans oppose the implementation of Obamacare and want it defunded. This makes Obamacare a political question. Democrat Senators and Congress members, most of whom voted for Obamacare at President Obama's, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid's and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's insistence, are now less enthusiastic and one has called it a train wreck. Republicans opposed Obamacare as a bill and some are even more negatively opposing it now -- because small and large businesses, the health care sector, insurance companies unions and a majority of Americans no longer support it. Conservative Republicans, often associated with the tea party movement, have decided to make Obamacare a 2014 congressional campaign issue, and they've developed an aggressive plan. They've identified GOP incumbents who have clearly stated that they will not oppose Obamacare funding because that could mean shutting down the government if the GOP refuses to approve a budget including Obamacare funds. But one conservative group is launching a radio ad challenging Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell to oppose any money for funding Obamacare, even if it means triggering a government shutdown. The ad will be divisive for Republicans because McConnell is locked in a tough race for a sixth term. The GOP leader faces both a primary rival, GOP businessman Matt Bevin, and a Democratic foe, Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes. "Republicans in Congress can stop Obamacare by refusing to fund it, but Senator Mitch McConnell refuses to lead the fight," says the ad. And the conservative Madison Project launched a radio spot on Monday critical of McConnell, calling him a Washington politician who pretends to be conservative. The Madison Project supports Bevin. Former Republican Senator Jim DeMint, head of the Heritage Foundation, says the Senate Conservative Fund that he founded is spending close to $200,000 on radio ads in six states calling on GOP senators to refuse to fund the health care law. The group's targets are North Carolina's Richard Burr, South Carolina's Lindsey Graham, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Johnny Isakson of Georgia, Mississippi's Thad Cochran and Arizona's Jeff Flake. In a statement in July, Senate Conservative Fund executive director Matt Hoskins said that McConnell could lose the Senate race and cost the GOP its shot at the Senate majority. ~~~~~ Dear readers, it takes a real political crisis to make any party take on its leaders. Obamacare is such a crisis. And it reflects the deep alienation between President Obama and the American people. As a wise old Washington insider once told me, "Never get between the dog and the tree." Mitch McConnell is right there. Right now. He can join the defeatist GOP voices, many of whom have deep battle scars and are afraid of doing damage to the Party yet again. They are telling the Grand Old Party to go along...get along...with Obamacare. Or he can find the courage to get out in front of the younger, more aggressive Republicans who represent the core of the GOP. Because, finally, what good is a political party if it rolls over and plays dead every time a really key issue comes along to disturb it. If Lincoln had done that, the United States would not exist today. Obamacare is a disaster. Everyone knows that. It was ill-thought and ill-prepared. It threatens jobs and health care availability. And now it is threatening the Republican Party. And, do not make the mistake of thinking that Obamacare should divide conservative and moderate Republicans. Obamacare is an Americans-vs-Obama issue. Stand up, Senator McConnell. Stand up, Speaker Boehner. Don't hide from Obamacare. Solve the problem.