Arizona's Republicans Call Mr. Obama "Brilliant" -- On Medicaid Expansion Strategy

The state-by-state dominoes continue to fall -- in pretty much the way we had hoped, in 2010. States with a previous-vehemently opposed to Obamacare stance -- at the Governors' mansions, at least -- are finally seeing that there is no way to fight the tide. And that it is the right thing to do -- for their own people.

Mr. Obama's Medicaid expansion strategy has worked -- and Obamacare is here to stay. And even the fiscal conservative Republicans are admitting that Mr. Obama out manuevered them -- with their own base. Here's the salient quote from The New York Times on it, tonight -- but do go read it all:

. . . .“The real brilliance of Barack Obama when he made Medicaid an all-or-nothing proposition,” giving states no option but to cover individuals with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty line if they were to qualify for federal reimbursement, “was that he pitted fiscally conservative Republicans against one another,” she said. . . .

“Nobody likes to lose, and that’s what happened” the night the Medicaid expansion got past the Legislature, she said. “I believe we will heal. . . .”

And the ordinary people, in Arizona, and nationwide, won -- the ones who desparately need health care coverage.

Actually, there isn't much else Governor Brewer can say: Arizona's Republicans are fractured, and there are multiple primary challengers angling for her seat. Well played, Mr. Obama -- very well-played, indeed.