Voters speak on ObamaCare

Does Harry Reid retreat to a happy place when confronted with his policy failures and unpopularity? Or is he merely delusional?

Voters have tried to let the Senate majority leader from Nevada know how much they hate the expensive, infringing, overreaching health care reforms he championed on behalf of left-wing special interests.

When Democrats were plotting to pass the abomination, poll after poll showed Americans opposed the bill. Massachusetts voters replaced the late lifetime liberal Ted Kennedy with a Republican to send a message to Washington: Don't ruin our health care system. Sen. Reid rushed forward and rammed the bill through the Senate anyway.

Poll after poll showed Americans wanted the law repealed. Sen. Reid insisted his "reforms" were not only wonderful, but wildly popular.

On Tuesday, Missouri held the country's first referendum on ObamaCare's most constitutionally dubious provision: a mandate, effective in 2014, that Americans obtain health insurance coverage or pay a tax penalty for not doing so.

When all the ballots were counted, 71 percent of Missouri voters rejected the mandate. The result wasn't surprising, but the margin of victory sure was.

Now Missouri -- along with Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana and Virginia -- prohibits the federal government from penalizing state residents who decline to purchase health insurance. And in November, Arizona, Florida and Oklahoma voters will consider constitutional amendments that protect their uninsured residents from federal punishment. Many other states will have similar laws on the books by next year.

The message to Washington -- and to Sen. Reid, in particular -- could not be more clear: Americans do not want Congress dictating the type of health coverage they have, they are angry that they will become lawbreakers if they decline to purchase it, and they want less federal control over their personal lives.

After the Missouri vote was in, however, Sen. Reid put on his happy face -- and entered complete denial.

"Once you explain what's in this bill, the American people, of course, like it," Sen. Reid said.

Sure, Sen. Reid. Americans like your health care takeover, all right. Just like they like the IRS, plumbing failures and traffic jams.