A GOP strategist predicted yesterday that Romney would flip on Fehrnstrom’s “not a tax” argument by next week. Either the campaign decided this couldn’t wait or they figured they’d time the flip for the holiday when no one’s paying attention.

Good enough? He’s not saying that he thinks the mandate is a tax; he reiterates that he agrees with Scalia that it’s a penalty. All he’s saying is that, as a matter of law, ObamaCare is now ObamaTax so The One will have to live with the political consequences. If he doesn’t like it, let him take it up with the left’s newest judicial hero, John Roberts. And if O turns around and says, “Well, that means the RomneyCare mandate was a tax too,” Mitt can always deflect by noting that only one of them has had a pronouncement from SCOTUS on the matter. Not the most convincing retort, but the goal here is to keep the ObamaTax talking point in play. I guess that’ll do it.