Fred Barnes: Major Congressional Reforms Demand Bipartisan Support - WSJ.com

Fred Barnes: Major Congressional Reforms Demand Bipartisan Support - WSJ.com: "For decades, a rule of thumb in Washington has said that there should be popular support and a bipartisan majority before approving an initiative that significantly affects tens of millions of Americans. Health-care reform—ObamaCare—has neither, yet Democrats want to impose it anyway. If they succeed, the consequences could be devastating for the country and probably for the president and his party.

The reasoning behind the rule is simple. Forcing drastic change on an unwilling public is likely to cause national disunity, stir angry protests, increase political polarization, and deepen distrust of Washington. But if popular opinion and both political parties support the change, discord will be minimal.

Discord is all but certain if ObamaCare in anything like its present form is enacted. A majority, or at least a large plurality, of Americans oppose it. Their opposition is raw and intense, as we've learned from the spate of contentious town-hall meetings held by Democratic members of Congress last summer. A Washington Post/ABC News poll of Oct. 19 confirmed the obvious: Far more Americans 'strongly' oppose ObamaCare (36%) than 'strongly' support it (26%).

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Barnes
Associated Press

President Barack Obama
Barnes
Barnes

In survey after survey, a majority of Americans or close to it say they believe ObamaCare will drive up the cost of insurance premiums while worsening health care. They expect it to necessitate a tax hike and boost the budget deficit. Most Americans (nearly 90%) consistently express satisfaction with the current health-care system, despite its imperfections.

Opposition to ObamaCare is not limited to conservatives and Republicans. Independents have increasingly turned against liberal-style health reform. On Oct. 8, Gallup reported 'one of the largest declines in support' for ObamaCare was among independents, falling in one month from 37% to 26%. On Oct. 21, Gallup said that by nearly 2 to 1 (36% to 19%) independents predicted they'd oppose the final health-care reform bill to come out of Congress. Even the undecided are skeptical. 'In general, Americans who are undecided on health care legislation predict it is more likely to make their own situations worse rather than better, especially in terms of cost,' Gallup said on Oct. 22.

President Obama, however, continues to proclaim 'the time is now' for America to adopt universal health care, directed from Washington by the federal government. This is what President Truman in the 1940s and President Clinton in the 1990s said when they proposed national health care. The public was unsupportive then, too, and bipartisan backing in Congress was absent."