Michael Stravato for The New York Times

In an interview with CNN’s Candy Crowley on Sunday, Senator Ted Cruz spoke frankly, and also not so frankly, on the movement to shut down the federal government unless healthcare reform is defunded.

Mr. Cruz admitted that “now is the single best time to stop Obamacare” because “if it doesn’t happen now, it’s never going to happen.” As Alex Seitz-Wald wrote in The Washington Post today, it will be much more difficult to alter or uproot the health care law after October 1, when the exchanges go online.

Mr. Cruz also acknowledged that he does “not have the votes right now” to force a shutdown. At least 41 Senators need to play along, and, so far, only 13 have signaled their commitment to the cause.



But the senator would only go so far in accepting reality. He refused to concede that even if he could send a bill to President Obama’s desk that cut off funding for health care — the president would never sign it.

CROWLEY: The president is never going to sign a bill that defunds Obamacare. CRUZ: You know, you may be convinced to that. CROWLEY: You’re not convinced to that? CRUZ: I am not at all.

Although the president’s negotiation record isn’t sterling, it’s implausible that he would allow Mr. Cruz et al. to undo his signature domestic accomplishment—something even staunch opponents of the law have recognized. Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina called the shutdown plan the “dumbest idea” he’d ever heard, and Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said that “defunding Obamacare, with President Obama in the White House and Harry Reid in the Senate” is “next to impossible.”

To be fair to Mr. Cruz, he’s in a tough spot. If he were to admit that Mr. Obama would never back down, he’d also have to admit that the whole “defund or shutdown” movement is nothing but a reckless gambit for publicity.