Both Romney and Obama could benefit from health care law being upheld

In Health Ruling, Relief for Obama but a Blow to Conventional Wisdom 

By NATE SILVER, NYT

The Supreme Court's 5-to-4 decision on Thursday to uphold most of President Obama's health care law represents a hurdle cleared for Mr. Obama. He had been at risk of seeing his most ambitious policy initiative - and most expensive, in terms of the political capital it required - neutered or overturned by the court.

If Mr. Obama is the victor from the standpoint of public policy, however, some observers have claimed that the decision could help Mitt Romney in terms of electoral politics.

With due respect, I think this counterintuitive conclusion is too cute by half. It may involve the same sort of wishful thinking that liberals were guilty of when some began to argue that the court striking the health care bill would actually help Mr. Obama politically.

Other analyses issued before the decision had implausibly argued that both Mr. Romney and Mr. Obama could benefit from the law being upheld. They seem to forget that in contrast to public policy, electoral politics is largely a zero-sum game.

(More here.)