The "smart one" doesn't understand our system of government.
Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt has a litmus test for Republican presidential candidates, now that the Supreme Court has dashed his dreams and saved Obamacare: would they go nuclear on the filibuster to get rid of the law. Hewitt
isn't going to let this one go, and Republican contenders who aren't senators seem happy to play along.
Thus far on Hewitt's show, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee have argued for using the so-called Reid Rule to get rid of the filibuster and repeal the Affordable Care Act. Hewitt also put the question to Scott Walker at the Western Conservative Summit in Denver, and the Wisconsin governor replied, "Yes, absolutely."
"Yes. Republicans need to do whatever it takes to get rid of Obamacare," Jindal elaborated to POLITICO in a statement. "Democrats used budget reconciliation to pass it. Republicans should just be as committed to repealing and replacing it. It's a bad law and it's time to get rid of it."
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush hasn't gone quite as far, telling Hewitt he would "certainly consider that."
Not on board are the candidates who also happen to be senators, and who have themselves used the filibuster to prove how much they oppose President Obama. Of course, that might have something to do with the fact that they know the president doesn't actually have the power to get rid of the filibuster since the constitution says the Senate and the Senate alone gets to make its rules. The irony of these Republicans who have screamed about executive overreach clamoring for a president to meddle with Senate rules seems lost on them all.