It’s not surprising that the New York Times snapped up an opinion piece entitled “The Conservative Case for Obamacare,” by my American Enterprise Institute colleague J. D. Kleinke. Finally, a truth-teller!
But what is surprising is the obvious superficiality of Kleinke’s arguments. He either doesn’t understand Obamacare and the conservative case against it, or has willfully distorted his descriptions of both to serve his case.
Kleinke’s central thesis is that, contrary to the overheated rhetoric of the Right, Obamacare is actually a conservative, market-friendly reform plan, built on two fundamentally conservative ideas — the state-based exchanges and the individual mandate — that will allow consumer choice and market forces to finally work in the health sector. Thus, conservative opposition to Obamacare isn’t about genuine differences over policies. It’s entirely political. Conservatives are against Obamacare because President Obama is for it! In Kleinke’s view, it’s that simple.