Oh, good God. Obamacare originated in a throwaway line for a speech??

**Posted by Phineas

"You're doing what??"
“Are you kidding me??”

Could it be true? Could this anti-constitutional monstrosity of a bill, which was rammed down the throats of a nation that didn’t want it and still doesn’t want it and which is already doing untold damage to our healthcare and the economy, have been born of nothing more than a need for an applause line?

According to Politico, that’s exactly what happened:

The most important red line of Barack Obama’s presidency was scrawled hastily in January 2007, a few weeks before he even announced he was running for president.

Soon-to-be-candidate Obama, then an Illinois senator, was thinking about turning down an invitation to speak at a big health care conference sponsored by the progressive group Families USA, when two aides, Robert Gibbs and Jon Favreau, hit on an idea that would make him appear more prepared and committed than he actually was at the moment.

Why not just announce his intention to pass universal health care by the end of his first term?

Thus was born Obamacare, a check-the-box, news-cycle expedient that would ultimately define a president.

β€œWe needed something to say,” recalled one of the advisers involved in the discussion. β€œI can’t tell you how little thought was given to that thought other than it sounded good. So they just kind of hatched it on their own. It just happened. It wasn’t like a deep strategic conversation.”

Unbelievable. The biggest, most far-reaching socio-economic legislation since Medicare, and it was nothing more than spit-balling. People are losing their insurance, their work hours are being cut, their access to doctors and hospitals is being restricted, insurance rates are going up, the relationship between the citizen and the State has been fundamentally redefined, and all because Obama wanted to “go big” in a race he thought he was going to lose, anyway.

Allahpundit is right: this is the domestic version of Obama’s Syrian red line, something tossed off with no prior thought to the consequences.

Except Syria was stopped.Β With Obamacare, we’re stuck with the bill for his intellectual shallowness.

Next time you and your team have a bright idea, Mr. President — sit on it!

RELATED: More from ST on the coming crunch in medical care access. Andrew McCarthy: Defund Obamacare. John McCormack: There’s a better way. From Legal Insurrection: Medicaid-Lite. Obamacare is forcing layoffs, including doctors.

(Crossposted at Public Secrets)

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