Good thing the court ruled 5-4 in favor of the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act of 2010.
Since last week’s ruling, conservatives unhappy with the decision have been wringing their hands in frustration. Conspiracy theories abound for why conservative Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the Obama administration. Political huffing and puffing that the president’s re-election bid is sunk is accepted as an almost certainty. And many Republican governors are doing their best imitation of John C. Calhoun by pledging to resist the next phases of the law they derisively call “Obamacare.”
A new Kaiser Family Foundation poll puts the past week into much-needed perspective. A majority of those polled — 56 percent — say it’s time for the country to “move on to other national issues” and give up the effort to “continue to block the law from being implemented.”
The court has ruled, and it’s time to let this piece of settled law become settled, the majority of respondents seem to say.
The eye-catching results don’t stop there.
Four-in-10 Americans polled didn’t even know the court had ruled on the Affordable Care Act.
Its popularity remains low, as well. Only 41 percent favored the law. Our prediction is that figure will rise over time. Major provisions of the law don’t kick in until 2014. Also, the Obama administration has thus far done a poor job of selling the reforms, which include protecting insurance customers from denial for pre-existing conditions.
We will repeat our prediction. Obamacare, originally intended as a slur by Republican opponents, will someday become a term of endearment. The reforms could very likely be prized by Americans much the way Social Security and Medicare are today. When and if that day arrives, Obamacare’s opponents will regret the day they ever coined the word.
