The sharply divided Supreme Court ruling upholding the constitutionality of Obamacare is a double-edged sword for President Barack Obama that is at once a victory for the president and a great issue going forward for GOP standard bearer Mitt Romney, analyst and commentator Doug Schoen said.
In a 5-4 ruling, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the liberal wing, the court upheld the individual health-insurance mandate ruling it was allowable under the taxing authority of Congress.
Democratic political analyst Doug Schoen said in an appearance on the Fox Business Channel that the ruling was a “victory for Obama.” However, he added, “This is a great issue to fight an election on for Mitt Romney and the Republicans.”
“You will hear the president in an hour or two take huge credit, huge victory,” he said. “But if you think about it tax is up, coverage down, more burden on the middle class becomes a tougher argument to sustain. And with the market going down it makes the economic argument for perilous for the president about the overall health of the economy.”
Schoen predicted that as a result of the ruling, Romney’s chances of winning have gone up, but “he’s got to answer the question what’s he for, how is he going to change health insurance. It’s not going to be enough to just say, ‘I’m against it.’”
“This election will be a referendum on taxing and spending power much closer to the 2010 election being re-run than what we ever anticipated . . . Open question elections are referenda on incumbents; I suspect this one will too,” he added.
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