Voters punished Democrats for Hillarycare. They'll do the same for Obamacare.

Democratic senators and congressmen have been trying to convince each other, particularly their more conservative colleagues, that they'll all be better off in the 2010 elections--and will avoid a repeat of their 1994 debacle--if they pass Obama-care. Bill Clinton, half of the central duo in the failed attempt to pass Hillarycare in 1994, recently addressed Senate Democrats and sang the party-line tune. Speaking to reporters afterward, Clinton said, "I think it is good politics to pass this and to pass it as soon as they can. ... The worst thing to do is nothing."

The Senate's $2.5 trillion bill will create higher taxes and higher premiums with little return.

The scoring is in on the health-care bills, and it's hard to see what the Democrats' proposed health-care overhaul would achieve apart from centralizing and consolidating power in Washington. During the campaign, then-Senator Obama said, "I am committed to signing a universal health care plan into law by the end of my first term in office. My plan will lower costs $2,500 per year for the typical American family." But the Congressional Budget Office has now released an analysis of the proposed Senate bill that the President is championing, and it turns out that his prior estimate was off by $4,600 a year. The CBO says that the average American family would see its premiums rise by $2,100 a year, at least in the individual market -- the part of the market where everyone agrees that "reform" is most needed. Were you expecting more for a price-tag of $2,500,000,000,000.00 over 10 years? True, many Americans would receive subsidies to help cover their higher premiums, but those subsidies would be paid for by other Americans. The Democrats' basic strategy seems to be to drive up premiums and then put far more people on the dole to help pay for them.

The Weekly Standard, November 23, 2009

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