Supreme Court Health Care Decision Energizes Republicans, Tea Party

COMMENTARY | Evidence is starting to pour in that suggests that while the Obama administration may have won the battle by having health care reform declared constitutional, it may have lost the war where it concerns the president being re-elected in the fall.

The Romney campaign, along with the Republican National Committee, raised over $4 million in less than a day after the Supreme Court ruling, according to the Hill. The RNC has already posted an ad capitalizing on the fact that the court called Obamacare a tax, despite the protestations of President Obama to the contrary.

Worse for Obama, according to Roll Call, the decision has roused the wrath of the tea party, which has become professional and organized and was already poised to be a powerful force in the 2012 election. The tea party was born in 2009 out of popular wrath over excessive spending and gained force in 2010, energized with outrage about the health care reform law. Tea party groups have raised considerable money as well on the Supreme Court ruling and are now ready to march.

Sarah Palin, the most powerful female politician on the planet, agreed in a post on her Facebook page on the subject where she somewhat sarcastically thanked the Supreme Court for handing her and the tea party a killing issue. Palin gained fame, in part, for her coining the phrase "Death Panels" to describe the often obfuscated rationing features of Obamacare.

The Obama administration would dearly wish that the Supreme Court decision would put an end to the controversy over the health care reform law. With the seal of approval, so-called, of the Supreme Court, the White House believes that people should start looking at all in considers to be the good things about Obamacare. They include the ability of people to remain children on their parents' insurance to age 26 and a ban on denial of care for preexisting conditions. The supporters of health care reform could wish for the moon and the stars for all the good it would do, however.

Hot Air is reporting that some initial polling looks bad for the president. In California, a state Obama is certain to win, a plurality of 45 percent disagree with the ruling. In Kansas, a Romney state, that figure is 52 percent. In Florida, a swing state, 50 percent disagree.

Game on, as Palin once said.