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Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Larry Kudlow :: Townhall.com Columnist
It's Over
by Larry Kudlow
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Will the Dems' health care Christmas Present to America be an improvement or detriment to our health care system?


Allow me a dose of hardened market realism concerning Barack Obama’s landslide victory in Wisconsin. The race is over. Hillary Clinton is over. Her electability is over.

Bill Clinton’s political invincibility is over. The Clinton Restoration is over.

It’s over.

Obama got to the far left faster than Hillary did. He out-organized her, out-fundraised her, out-speechified her, out-hustled her, out-dressed her, and out-presidentialed her. He outbid Hillary for votes, one promised government check at a time. His 17-point margin of victory in Wisconsin was incredible. It says he can’t be stopped.

Outside of the whacko ultra-left Madison college population, which is even worse than the Ohio State population, Wisconsin is a lot like Ohio. And Ohio campuses will go for Obama. Think faculty voters, grimly determined for a left-wing takeover of America “from the bottom up,” to use the Saul Alinsky community-organizer phrase. As goes Wisconsin, so goes Ohio.

Not even Hillary’s last-minute bashing of business, free trade, and free-market capitalism -- which was a complete repudiation of her husband’s presidency -- could save her. Obama got there first, with a style and elegance that Hillary simply couldn’t match.

And it came out of nowhere. On the eve of the Wisconsin primary, Hillary did a hard-left imitation of John Edwards’s populist and demagogic soak-the-rich rhetoric. She trashed some of the greatest businesses in America -- oil, credit-card, insurance, and pharmaceutical firms. Wall Street and lending firms. It all must have come as quite a shock to the alumni of the Bill Clinton White House who are working for her campaign.

Robert Rubin may have been too busy tending to Citigroup’s sub-prime collapse to keep Hillary on the reservation. But where were Wall Street’s Roger Altman and Washington’s Gene Sperling when Hillary discarded the pinstripes for the polyester lefty-union pantsuit?

Bashing business comes naturally to Obama. But for Hillary it was a complete failure. Exit polls from Wisconsin say the trade protectionists went with Obama. Union members? Obama. People who think the economy’s in trouble? Obama. Folks who don’t think it’s in trouble? Obama. People making less than $50,000 a year? Obama. More than $50,000 a year? Obama.

And it only gets worse.

Voters went with Obama on healthcare by 8 points, on the economy by 16 points, and on Iraq by 20 points. Churchgoers and non-churchgoers went with Obama. Most qualified to be commander-in-chief? Obama. College degree or no college degree? Obama. Democrats, Republicans, and independents went with Obama. So did blacks and whites. Continued...

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About The Author

Lawrence Kudlow is host of CNBC's Kudlow & Company

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fairtax
Ken,

Yeah, I know that it may seem daunting, especially given the fact that fewer and fewer people are actually paying any income tax. But, I think that if the benefits that the fairtax brings can be stressed (especially in the form of jobs coming back from overseas) it would be easier to sell and get it done. I'm still optimistic!

AJ
"HR 25 (the Fairtax bill) requires that the 16th amendment be repealed."

A constitutional amendment can only be repealed by an additional amendment. Such an action would require a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate, and then ratification by three-fourths of the states. Call me a pessimist, but I just don't see that happening.

I think a flat tax is a far more attainable and workable plan.
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