There are two schools of thought as to what the passage of ObamaCare portends. On one side is the “cataclysmic” view: this is a transformative event, one that puts the country on the road to ruin and is a first step toward Western European socialism. The other is that this is a “political game changer” that will set off a firestorm of protest that sweeps Democrats from office and will in due time result in the repeal or roll back of much of the mischief-making. I generally subscribe to the latter view, for what makes for cataclysmic change is broad popular acceptance of both the substance and the process by which that change was arrived at. In this case, there is neither.

It was especially fitting that the final votes were acquired with a giant wink and a good deal of political cowardice on the part of Bart Stupak and his gang. They know the executive order is an unenforceable fraud, and they know the pro-life movement knows it’s a fraud. But they did it anyway. Just as the Democrats know the CBO score is a fiction, and they know that fiscally concerned voters know it’s a fiction. But they did it anyway. They have decided they are in the history-making business as well as the base-will-kill-us-if-we-don’t business, so they’ve jumped off that precipice. One suspects the obviousness of the canard is one factor that will make this not a cataclysmic event but a political game changer.