In Obama space, no one can hear you scream.
Voters aren’t happy with the latest tax proposed to help pay for the trillion-dollar national health care plan, and they’re even unhappier with exempting labor unions from that tax.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 33% of U.S. voters support enacting a significant excise tax on the most expensive health insurance plans provided by employers.
Sixty-three percent (63%) oppose the excise tax on so-called “Cadillac” health insurance plans, up five points from late December. Only 10% Strongly Support it and 42% Strongly Oppose the excise tax.
The idea becomes even less appealing once Obama’s back room deal with his union handlers is factored in.
Labor unions, an important constituency in the Democratic Party, complained about the excise tax because many of their members have such “Cadillac” health plans as part of collective bargaining agreements. To keep union support for the overall health care plan, President Obama and Democratic leaders agreed last week to exempt union members from the tax for five years and modify it in other ways so they don’t pay as much.
Voters really frown on that action. Only 27% support the excise tax if it exempts union members, while 70% are opposed. But even more significantly, if the union members are exempt 11% Strongly Support the tax while 51% Strongly Oppose it.
One year into this great hope and change experiment, and the day after a Republican won the bluest of all Senate seats, it’s still probably too much to ask that the president and the rest of the Democrats actually pay attention to the people who elected them.
Wait, did I say “probably”? My coffee must be laced with something.
As the country woke up to a new political landscape the morning after the Massachusetts special election, the White House tried to balance a tone of contrition with a message that the Obama administration believes it still has a mandate.
Of course, any sober person (even members of the uneducated class, David Brooks!) knows that the “mandate” Team Lightbringer believes it has never existed in the first place. It’s an illusion, like greater efficiency being introduced into the health care system through federal involvement.
There’s no time to enjoy Scott Brown’s victory as there is more work to be done now. It’s obvious that this group isn’t going to get it until they’re unemployed. They began with a delusional agenda that no amount of reality will ever interfere with.
Unless it happens in the voting booth.
