Remember last September, when the President was challenged by George Stephanopoulos on the question of whether the individual mandate was a tax? To refresh your memory, here’s the video in which Obama claims the mandate “is absolutely not a tax increase�:
Now, however, Obamacare’s backers are faced with a serious court challenge to the “reform� bill. And this challenge is based on the constitutionality of the individual mandate. So, what is their defense strategy? The Wall Street Journal reports that they are calling it a tax:
Congress justified its authority to enact the mandate on the grounds that it is a regulation of commerce. But as this justification came under heavy constitutional fire, the mandate’s defenders changed the argument—now claiming constitutional authority under Congress’s power to tax.
It is sweet to watch Obamacare’s supporters twist themselves into rhetorical knots. They would probably prefer not to refute Obama. But, as Ed Morrissey points out, they certainly don’t don’t want to find themselves in front of the Supremes arguing that the mandate is covered by John Conyers’ fictional “Good and Welfare” clause.
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