Two explanations for the President’s inexplicable remark

By Tom Quiner

In the summer of 2009, angry voters crammed into townhall meetings with their Senators and Congressman. They expressed in no uncertain terms their concerns about the health care legislation being advanced by the Democratic Party.

They were against it.

They responded in three critical off-year elections by defeating candidates in Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts by convincing margins. These were districts that had voted for President Obama not that long ago.

The wedge issue was the Democrat’s plan for health insurance. Candidates who opposed the Democrat’s proposed expansion of the federal government won. Turnout was high. The result was unmistakably a vote against what is now dubbed “Obamacare.”

Despite polling data that showed voters opposed the plan, Democrats crammed the legislation through in a partisan fashion. Not one Republican voted for the legislation.

Voters got their chance to express their views on Obamacare this week. They voted Republican, giving Republicans historic gains in the House, the Senate, Governorships, and the State Legislatures.

No Democrats campaigned touting their vote for Obamacare. Every Republican campaigned in opposition.

That leads me to the President’s take on the election:

“We’d be misreading the election if we thought the American people want to see us for the next two years re-litigate arguments we had over the last two years.”

In light of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, how could the President so misread the electorate? There are two explanations. One could be that he is not very bright. There are people who are book smart but not people smart. Maybe Mr. Obama is just not very good at reading people.

Or there is another explanation. Maybe he doesn’t care. In his press conference on Wednesday, he maintained that his policies were good, but that a lot of folks just hadn’t studied the issues closely enough.

Translation: the voters are stupid.

Translation: he knows what’s best for us, someday we’ll thank him for his superior wisdom.

And yet I read this morning that here in Iowa, Wellmark Blue Cross has suspended the sale of their “child-only policies.” Why? Because Obamacare banned insurers from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions.

And yet I read today that AARP, a big supporter of Obamacare, is forced to raise health insurance costs to their employees by 8 to 13 percent because of the healthcare overhaul.

And yet I read today that Boeing is doing the same because of coming new taxes on high-cost health insurance plans.

Voters reject Obamacare for good reasons, and President Obama doesn’t care. He thinks he knows best.

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[I may be critical of our President’s policies, but I pray for his safety during his trip to India.]