"Jonathan Gruber, the self-described "architect" of Obamacare, later openly admitted that the law never would have passed if President Obama had told the truth about the fact that what was labeled a "penalty" for noncompliance was actually a tax. Gruber explained what the Obama team was cynically counting on: "And, basically, call it 'the stupidity of the American voter,' or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to getting the thing to pass."