Healthcare Obama's Waterloo?

Senator Jim Demint said that health care would be Obama's "Waterloo" moment. Maybe. It's possible that should Obamacare (and for that matter, Cap and Trade) fail to pass, Obama would be so weakened and drained of credibility that he woud become ineffective through the rest of his term. Given the extreme efforts the White House is making to win this one, they apparently share this analysis.

But I think that by thwarting Obama's healthcare amitions, Blue Dog Democrats and Republicans may actually be saving Obama from himself. If Obamacare were to pass, voters would certainly hold the resulting catastrophe against him. People would clearly be unhappy with losing thier employer-sponsored health care plans because they were dumped into a "public- option" plan. Obama would suffer a further loss of credibility because what he promised would not happen would have come to pass. People would also be unhappy about rationed care and a resulting increase in health care costs and the deficit. Not to mention the fact that the alleged need for immediate action on health care (to fix the economy) would have been exposed as phony.

By sweeping Republicans into office in 1994 the American People saved Bill Clinton from himself and he went on to a largely successful presidency. But the permanent damage that would be caused by the current health care proposals are too terrible to permit, even if their passage did ultimately bring Obama to his Waterloo.