White House Now on Defensive: "Its a Penalty, Not a Tax"

The ruling by the Supreme Court yesterday was an upsetting decision for a lot of people in this country.  Many are angry with the fact that they would be required to pay for health insurance and feel that requirement to be unconstitutional. The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the mandate to purchase health insurance was unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, but it can be considered Constitutional under the Congress' ability to tax the American People.

As we discussed yesterday the court has now put the Obama Administration and the Congress in a peculiar situation because they fought for this bill a few years ago claiming that this was not a tax increase on the American people.

Now the White House is on the defensive with this court ruling...from Fox News:

First it was a penalty. Then it was a tax. Now it's a penalty again.  

The war of words over what to call the fine attached to the federal health care overhaul's most controversial provision continued Friday, as the White House took issue with the Supreme Court's argument -- even though that argument alone spared President Obama's law.  

The five-justice majority argued that, while the fine imposed by the law for not buying health insurance would otherwise be unconstitutional, the fine is actually legal under Congress' authority to tax.  

Ergo, the fine is officially a "tax" in the eyes of the court. The law stands.  

But in a case of biting the hand that feeds, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Friday the fine is still just a "penalty."  

Calling it a "tax" causes obvious political problems for the White House. Obama fought that label vigorously when selling the bill in 2009. 

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/06/29/white-house-claims-obamacare-fine-penalty-despite-court-calling-it-tax/#ixzz1zDDRxoqF

Conservatives were very fast to rush to judgement on the court ruling yesterday, which was partly anger. However; the case has now put the White House and the Democrats in Congress in a peculiar situation as they head into the 2012 election season. They will now have to defend the law as not a tax, but rather a penalty and it will now highlight the problems with the law that will allow for the repeal if the Republicans are able to win big in November.

Conservatives need to look at the heart of the Chief Justice's opinion and look at the tactic that he employed by making this decision. It would have been a huge deal if the court had overturned the law, and it would have been a big deal if they said it was perfect, but what Roberts did was strategic. He secured the credibility of the court and pushed the legislative and executive branches into a big corner that they now have to fight their way out of.