Is ‘The Stupidity of the American Voter’ Being Credited with Passage of the ACA?

The comments an economist made a year ago are making headlines today after being released by a conservative group on Friday.

American Commitment published a video with comments by economist Jonathan Gruber at a conference last year.

In the video (shown below) Gruber said that one of the things critical to getting the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare," passed was "the stupidity of the American voter."

Gruber was one of the chief architects of the ACA.  He says it never would have become law if the voters had known more about it.

The video was released by the group American Commitment on Friday:

The video is from a panel discussion held on October 17, 2013 in which Gruber took part at the University of Pennsylvania's Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics.

In the video Gruber says, "This video was written in a tortured way to make sure the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) did not (score) the mandate as taxes...(if) it made explicit that healthy people paid in and sick people get money it would not have passed...Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage...Call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to getting the thing to pass."

Fallout is still settling from the video's release.  There has been no official comment yet from the White House about Gruber's remarks.  And such comment may not come at all, since the Supreme Court has agreed to review aspects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in at least one case now before it.  In King v. Burwell  tax issues surrounding the ACA are being addressed, not the legality of the Act itself.  Even so, the Court's decision could have long-standing impact on the future of Obamacare.  The release of Gruber's comments have undoubtedly added fuel to the flames of debate surrounding Obamacare, especially in light of the results of the 2014 midterm elections.