The Administration has announced that it will delay implementation of the employer mandate provision of Obamacare until 2015. Yes, they're doing it no doubt to delay the economic and political impact of forcing employers with over 50 full-time employees to provide health care coverage to all their workers. Mid-term elections are in 2014, and Americans would be royally ticked as Obamacare sinks its teeth into businesses, and in turn, employees and consumers. Obama apparently decided we can't have that. So delay until those elections are safely over. Impact avoided.
And yet. . . could the delay instead be a rallying cry for those opposed to Obamacare and its destructive consequences? Could what was intended by the Obama Administration for political gain turn into their political disaster?
Of course. But there's a big "if." If Republican leaders, rallying weary party faithful and Tea Party activists, can get their act (ie: messaging, image, grassroots, technology) together, this can be the main push for 2014: avoid the devastating implementation of Obamacare by electing strong Republican majorities in both the House and the Senate. The message will be particularly effective if the individual mandate portion of the law is delayed as well, as many believe it will be. The key question is whether the Republican apparatus is capable of conveying how critical the election is, identifying their voters and getting them to the polls.
The spontaneous, intense reaction to Obamacare and the vast overreach of the federal government resulted in the Republican Congressional gains in 2010. There's no reason it can't happen again. The Obama Administration has just ensured Obamacare, and the looming implementation of its most costly and punitive measures for businesses and perhaps individuals, will again be a central focal point.
