"Last week, before Supreme Court oral arguments began on Obamacare, we noted that liberals in the media had already started a campaign to delegitimize an adverse decision in advance. We hardly expected to see scores of elected Democrats, led by President Obama, join in this rhetorical charge against the high court this week. Obama, speaking to reporters on Monday, said that overturning the health care law's individual mandate would be 'an unprecedented, extraordinary step' by the justices that would be a 'good example' of 'judicial activism.'  ... 

"That he would take aim this way at our nation's fair administration of justice should be viewed as a sign of weakness, not strength. The president who says his agenda 'can't wait' for Congress now won't even wait for the Supreme Court to rule before impugning its integrity. When the Founding Fathers created the Constitution's system of checks and balances, they did it precisely to protect us from such leaders."

"A lot of politicians are worrying about the Constitution these days. Liberal commentators were shocked this past week when in three days of oral argument in the lawsuits challenging ObamaCare, five Supreme Court justices — a majority — asked questions strongly suggesting they think the legislation is unconstitutional. …

"If the Court overturns ObamaCare, Obama may be tempted to attack the Court. He should beware. In 1937, Franklin Roosevelt, a few months after a landslide reelection, proposed to pack the Supreme Court with new appointees. 

"Gallup polls showed majorities opposed the move, and in the next election, proponents of FDR’s New Deal lost their congressional majorities. Lesson: Most American voters worry about the Constitution."

"You don’t often hear an American president secretly (he thinks) assuring foreign leaders that concessions are coming their way, but they must wait because he’s seeking reelection and he dares not tell his own people.

"Can you imagine the kind of pressure a reelected Obama will put on Israel, the kind of anxiety he will induce from Georgia to the Persian Gulf, the nervousness among our most loyal East European friends who, having been left out on a limb by Obama once before, are now wondering what new flexibility Obama will show Putin ...

"They don’t know. We don’t know. We didn’t even know this was coming — until the mike was left open. Only Putin was to know. 'I will transmit this information to Vladimir,' Medvedev assured Obama."

"The panicked reception in the mainstream media of the three-day Supreme Court health-care marathon is a delightful reminder of the nearly impenetrable parochialism of American liberals.

"They’re so convinced of their own correctness — and so determined to believe conservatives are either a) corrupt, b) stupid or c) deluded — that they find themselves repeatedly astonished to discover conservatives are in fact capable of a) advancing and defending their own powerful arguments, b) effectively countering weak liberal arguments and c) exposing the soft underbelly of liberal self-satisfaction as they do so.

"That’s what happened this week. There appears to be no question in the mind of anyone who read the transcripts or listened to the oral arguments that the conservative lawyers and justices made mincemeat out of the Obama administration’s advocates and the liberal members of the court.

"Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. should be grateful to the Supreme Court for refusing to allow cameras in the courtroom, because his defense of Obamacare on Tuesday may go down as one of the most spectacular flameouts in the history of the court. 

"Stepping up to the podium, Verrilli stammered as he began his argument. He coughed, he cleared his throat, he took a drink of water. And that was before he even finished the first part of his argument. Sounding less like a world-class lawyer and more like a teenager giving an oral presentation for the first time, Verrilli delivered a rambling, apprehensive legal defense of liberalism's biggest domestic accomplishment since the 1960s -- and one that may well have doubled as its eulogy. 

"'What is left?' Justice Antonin Scalia demanded of Verrilli, 'if the government can do this, what can it not do?' Verrilli's response to this basic and most predictable of questions was to rattle off a few legal precedents."

"Two-thirds of Americans want the Supreme Court to overturn some or all of the health care law, even though large majorities support a few of its major aspects, according to a poll by The New York Times and CBS News.

"At the heart of the opposition is the individual mandate requiring Americans to obtain health insurance, the least popular part of the bill and a crucial piece at the center of the court arguments, which began Monday and will turn to the mandate on Tuesday.

"In the latest poll, 47 percent said they oppose the law while 36 percent approve, with the rest having no opinion. The results are similar to previous surveys that have consistently found the law’s detractors outnumbering its supporters."

"Considering the [Affordable Care Act's] glaring -- and predictable -- economic and political shortcomings, why did Obama make it his first-term centerpiece? The answer seems to be his obsession with securing his legacy as the president who achieved the liberal grail of universal coverage. In his book 'The Escape Artists: How Obama's Team Fumbled the Recovery,' Noam Scheiber recounts a telling incident. Obama's advisers tell him he can be known for preventing a second Great Depression. 'That's not enough for me,' Obama replies. 

"The ACA is Obama's ego trip, but as a path to presidential greatness, it may disappoint no matter how the court decides. Lyndon's Johnson's creation of Medicare and Medicaid was larger, and he isn't deemed great. And then, unlike now, government seemed capable of paying for bigger programs."

"Rarely has one law so exemplified the worst of the Leviathan state — grotesque cost, questionable constitutionality, and arbitrary bureaucratic coerciveness. Little wonder the president barely mentioned it in his latest State of the Union address. He wants to be reelected. He’d rather talk about other things.

"But there’s no escaping it now. Oral arguments begin Monday at 10 a.m."

"The conventional wisdom is that Ryan’s budget is politically suicidal. But conventional wisdom also held that voters would like the stimulus package and come to like Obamacare. Neither has happened. 

"Republicans’ standing in generic House vote polls did not slump when Ryan’s budget passed last year. Right now, it’s about the same as it was at this point in the 2010 election cycle. 

"Maybe, just maybe, voters will reward politicians who tackle looming problems rather than those, like Obama, who keep kicking the can down the road."

"Pond scum stinks. And so do the Obama administration's enormous, taxpayer-funded 'investments' in politically connected biofuel companies. While the president embarks on a green rehabilitation tour this week to quell growing public outrage about big green boondoggles, the White House continues to cultivate a cozy algae racket. 

"Obama's promotion of algae as a fuel source at a campaign speech in Miami last month caught the nation's attention. But algae companies have been banking on administration support from Day One. In December 2008, when the White House announced the nomination of Energy Secretary Steven Chu, the CEO of Florida-based biofuels startup Algenol, Paul Woods, exulted to Time magazine: 'You see this smile on my face? It's not going away. Everyone is really excited by this.' 

"The next year, Woods and Algenol -- dubbed 'Obama's favorite algae company' by Forbes magazine -- racked up $25 million in federal stimulus grants from Chu. Say cheese."