Gallup shows Obama’s approval reaching an all-time low of 50 percent. And support for ObamaCare has disappeared. According to Rasmussen, 53 percent oppose, 43 percent approve. Other polls show a bleaker picture. Democrats, before the Kennedy funeral has even begun, are using his death to hawk ObamaCare and guilt wavering Democrats into getting on the bandwagon.

Other than displaying the poor taste we have grown accustomed to when liberal icons pass away, this seems a sign of desperation and silliness. Will independent voters rally to the cause of government-run health care because the liberals’ leader has passed away? Is Blanche Lincoln, who is facing a tough re-election bid, going to go to the floor to announce she’s changed her mind and will take one for Teddy on the “public option”? It seems far-fetched. That is not to say the arm-twisting won’t intensify and the speechifying get progressively more cloying.

But the problem for Obama is that only the far Left backs his vision of a top-to-bottom reworking of health care. Whatever one’s views on Kennedy and his legacy, voters and lawmakers (months from now, when this comes to a vote) aren’t likely to give up their deeply held beliefs or resolve their fears about rationing, deficits, and government meddling out of sympathy. Of all people, Kennedy knew that’s not the way politics works.