There is a certain irony in the recent federal court ruling that ObamaCare socialized medicine is unconstitutional.

The law was struck down mainly because it requires virtually all Americans to buy government-approved insurance - and punishes those who don't. In fact, if that so-called "individual mandate" had not been part of ObamaCare, the federal court might have left the law intact.

So it is interesting to note that before President Barack Obama supported fining Americans who do not buy insurance under ObamaCare, he vigorously opposed those fines.

During the presidential primary campaign, then-Sen. Obama told a TV talk show host that his proposed medical plan differed from that of fellow Democrat candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton in one respect: He said that her proposal would punish people for not buying insurance, and his would not.

Here is the key quote: He said Sen. Clinton "mandates that everybody buy health care. She'd have the government force every individual to buy insurance, and I don't have such a mandate because I don't think the problem is that people don't want health insurance, it's that they can't afford it. So I focus more on lowering costs. This is a modest difference. But it's one that she's tried to elevate, arguing that because I don't force people to buy health care that I'm not insuring everybody."

Today, of course, the president stridently defends forcing Americans to buy insurance approved by the federal government - and punishing them if they do not.

But just think: If he had stuck with his original position against that "mandate," ObamaCare might not be under legal attack by 28 states - and it might not have been ruled unconstitutional!