Red State Dems Feeling the Blues

Cue the World’s Smallest Violin™, courtesy of Politico:

Democratic senators from red states — the most vulnerable incumbents up for reelection next year — voted for Obamacare and have been among the law’s biggest champions, believing that voters would embrace it once they experienced its benefits. They could end up being some of the law’s most prominent casualties if its unpopularity continues to grow.

If voters continue experiencing problems like a balky website, canceled policies and higher premiums, the fallout could be brutal next November, Democrats acknowledge.

For that reason, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) issued some blunt advice to the administration: “Fix it.”

Asked how it would affect Senate Democratic candidates in 2014, the No. 2 Senate Democrat said: “If it’s fixed, and when it’s fixed, that will decide whether the issue is a big issue next year.”

Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, added this when asked whether the law would be a problem for his candidates next year: “It all depends on the implementation.”
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Asked whether the White House’s credibility had been shot through this latest episode, one Democratic senator said: “You got to have it, to lose it.”
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“Very high,” Begich said when asked about his frustration with the White House over Obamacare. “Personally, I spend time going to this website, going on it — giving criticism — trying to push the envelope on some of these issues and yelling at them more than once. It’s frustrating because we should be able to get through this. I really do believe we will.”

Asked how it could affect his bid for a second term next year, Begich said: “We’re a year out. … I’ve always said this: ‘This bill needs work, has always needed work.’”

The Democrats couldn’t get the bill (now law) to work when they had bulletproof majorities in Congress, and a Democrat executive branch couldn’t get the bill to work when they had three-and-a-half years and an essentially unlimited budget to roll it out.

Now they’re going to get the thing fixed in less than a year with a shrunken majority in the Senate, a GOP House, and a President with all the political clout of a Ram’s Bladder Cup?

Color me dubious.