The GOP's ObamaCare paradox

America is a dynamic country. Our resilient economy compensates for (and perhaps even camouflages) things that are a drag. The American economy will eventually improve, and when it does, conservatives may well end up being forced to make the counterfactual argument that, “Well, yeah, but the economy would be doing even better if we didn’t have ObamaCare.” That’s a point that might well be true, but would also be impossible to prove. It’s akin to the liberal argument that the economy would have been even worse without the stimulus.

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By attacking ObamaCare as a disaster waiting to happen, Republicans may be inadvertently losing the expectations game.

Consider a related hypothetical from the abortion debate. Many conservatives trumpet the fact that babies can feel the pain of late-term abortion. I’m entirely willing to believe this is true, and I suspect it helps win converts. But what if a study comes out tomorrow demonstrating these conservatives are wrong — that abortion is completely painless for the baby? I would still oppose abortion on principle, but I suspect putting so many chips on this claim, that is then suddenly deflated, would inadvertently help change the debate from being about the right to life to being about the right to painless death.

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