It was President Barack Obama doing the victory dance after the
Supreme Court upheld his health care legislation, but the ruling makes
it more likely Mitt Romney will be standing in the winner's circle in
November.
The High Court's Obamacare decision gave Romney something he'd been searching for since locking up the Republican presidential nomination: a match he can use to light a fire under the sluggish tea party movement.
Tea party voters delivered an historic win for Republicans in 2010, but they've not been nearly as energetic this cycle.
Lots of factors explain that. First, it is a movement fueled by anger, and anger is hard to sustain. It turns into disgust, and disgust is a less potent motivator.
Tea partiers expected better results after they tossed out a legion of Democratic congressmen two years ago. But too little has changed in Washington's politics and policies. The spending continues, the deficits keep growing, and many of the new tea party congressmen have been co-opted by the Republican establishment, coerced into compromise.
Understandably, the tea party feels somewhat burned, its members are more cynical about their ability to force real change. Add to that their skepticism about Romney, who adopted his own version of Obamacare while governor of Massachusetts.
But it was Obama's health care bill that ignited the tea party in the first place.
The High Court's Obamacare decision gave Romney something he'd been searching for since locking up the Republican presidential nomination: a match he can use to light a fire under the sluggish tea party movement.
Tea party voters delivered an historic win for Republicans in 2010, but they've not been nearly as energetic this cycle.
Lots of factors explain that. First, it is a movement fueled by anger, and anger is hard to sustain. It turns into disgust, and disgust is a less potent motivator.
Tea partiers expected better results after they tossed out a legion of Democratic congressmen two years ago. But too little has changed in Washington's politics and policies. The spending continues, the deficits keep growing, and many of the new tea party congressmen have been co-opted by the Republican establishment, coerced into compromise.
Understandably, the tea party feels somewhat burned, its members are more cynical about their ability to force real change. Add to that their skepticism about Romney, who adopted his own version of Obamacare while governor of Massachusetts.
But it was Obama's health care bill that ignited the tea party in the first place.
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