Obamacare has cost another Democratic legislator his seat in Congress—at least in part. The latest to fall for ignoring the will of the people by passing Obamacare is Senator Ben “Cornhusker Kickback” Nelson of Nebraska. His popularity took a big hit when his machinations helped get Obamacare through the Senate and never fully recovered. Now, he is resigning after his term is up at the end of this Congress. From the Politico story:
Nelson obtained a huge controversial provision in that legislation — derisively called the “Cornhusker Kickback” by GOP opponents — that called for the federal government to pay Nebraska’s costs for Medicaid expansion, potentially saving the state tens of millions of dollars annually. The provision was ultimately killed, but Nelson still paid a political price. Nelson adamantly denied that he traded his support for the Democratic health plan in exchange for the special provision, yet his standing back home took a big hit. Nelson proved to be the 60th and deciding vote for the Democratic health-care package.
Nelson is the latest self-inflicted political wound victim of Obamacare, along with Bart Stupak (no longer D, MI) and others. As a partial consequence, Nancy Pelosi is Minority Leader instead of Speaker of the House of Representatives.
I don’t know of a single Republican who lost his or her seat for voting no to Obamacare, but I can think of several ousted or not elected Dems out of power for supporting the law that is still, according to polls, opposed by the majority of the American people. It should only happen to the President.
