A Defeat for Obama

Well, I was a little disappointed in Christie’s margin of victory over Corzine in New Jersey… just four points (49-45%). I hoped for a more decisive thumping. On the other hand, Christie beat an incumbent Democratic governor in what has become a very Democratic state, despite being outspent five to one. More importantly, he beat an opponent who had heavy campaign backing from his party’s biggest guns, with Clinton, Biden, and Obama making regular appearances in the state.

Of course, from a purely ideological perspective, the Christie win is meaningless, at best. Paul Mulshine observes that Christie “managed to get through the entire campaign without taking a single principled stand on a single issue.” As a result, he can claim no mandate “because you can’t win a mandate to do nothing — which is what he promised to do.” I agree. At a crucial time for NJ and the nation, Christie blew a golden opportunity to begin to draw a clear distinction between the GOP and the statist Democrats, which is so urgently needed.

Christie stands for nothing except not being Corzine, so I expect nothing from him save possibly stemming Trenton’s statist tide until the next Dem governor moves in. This is no surprise. It’s classic Republican.

On the broad national level, though, his win may have major positive consequences. Coupled with the huge Republican gubernatorial win in Virginia … McDonnell over Deeds by 20%! … we may have witnessed a significant turning of the tide against the Democrats’ Washington agenda. The twin GOP victories are, I believe, a manifestation of the Tea Party Rebellion. As such, they tie into the bigger picture of steadily rising grassroots resistence to ObamaCare and Obama himself. On this score, this was a very consequential off-year election. Make no mistake, the nervousness of the “moderate” or so-called “Blue Dog” Democrats has ratcheted up several notches. These folks, not the allegedly “obstructionist” Republicans, have been the biggest headache for the Dems’ healthcare agenda.

ObamaCare’s prospects have been eroding for months. Just the latest example is reported, coincidentally, on election day by AP’s David Espo:

“In a blow to the White House, the Senate’s top Democrat signaled Tuesday that Congress may not meet a year-end deadline for passing healthcare legislation, leaving the measure’s fate to the uncertainties of the 2010 election season.

“Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., spoke as Democratic officials said it could be December before Senate debate begins in earnest on the issue atop President Barack Obama’s domestic agenda, months after senior lawmakers and the White House had hoped.

“The drive to pass legislation has been plagued for months by divisions within the party’s rank and file.”

Those divisions are likely to intensify as a result of the election, especially in light of fresh evidence of the continuing deterioration in public support. In the wake of the elections, at least one source is flatly declaring A Deathblow to ObamaCare as Rasmussen reports that Obama’s job approval is down to 46% and Americans now reject ObamaCare by 55-42%.

And no wonder. The sheer insanity of the Democrats is becoming so obvious that a village idiot can now see it. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s latest plan, H.R. 3962, is a 1990 page blueprint for totalitarianism in medicine. David Harsanyi reports over at RealClearPolitics that if this bill were ever to become law, “Washington 'Shall' Control Your Healthcare”. “Shall” is mentioned 3,424 times in the new House Bill. In addition:

“Tax” appears 87 times
“Taxable” 62 times
“Excise tax” 10 times
“Taxes” 15 times
“Fee” 59 times
“Penalty” 113 times
“Require” 118 times
“Must” 58 times

This is called “health care reform”!!!

People are getting wise. With the president having so much political capital invested in the New Jersey and Virginia elections, the GOP victories must be viewed as a major defeat for Obama. Thus, what seemed like a pipe dream last spring is now becoming a realistic possibility – defeating the Dems’ push for socialized medicine despite their total electoral domination of the federal government.

As I said on 11/1/09, this was my reason for my endorsement of Chris Christie.

We shall see.