This is only true if enough voters make it true.
“Dem Party is F****d.” That was the subject line of an email sent to me Sunday by a senior Democratic consultant with strong ties to the White House and Capitol Hill. The body of the email contained a link to thisLos Angeles Times story about Obamacare “sticker shock:”
“These middle-class consumers are staring at hefty increases on their insurance bills as the overhaul remakes the healthcare market. Their rates are rising in large part to help offset the higher costs of covering sicker, poorer people who have been shut out of the system for years.”
“Although recent criticism of the healthcare law has focused on website glitches and early enrollment snags, experts say sharp price increases for individual policies have the greatest potential to erode public support for President Obama’s signature legislation.”
—
The Democratic consultant said none of this is news to him, but he wonders why Obama wasn’t honest with Americans. He predicted surprise and outrage over higher costs and lesser coverage. “We will own this problem forever,” the Democrat wrote.
He “wonders why Obama wasn’t honest with Americans…” That’s one of the more obvious questions before the body politic. Maybe it’s because he’s a dishonest man and the media will never force him to be honest. Maybe it’s because he knew his plan would never pass if he was honest about it. Maybe it’s because strategists like the one who wrote the email have never demanded honesty of Obama or any other Democrat for going on 20 years. Whatever bad thing a Democrat does doesn’t wreck their “good intentions,” and Republicans are the worst form of life in the universe anyway.
Democrats should pay a price for Obamacare, but it’s not a given that they will. Republicans will have to go on offense, and there’s no guarantee that they will.
And then there’s the dishonesty that is pervasive across the entire Democratic Party and grassroots. Even the more honest Democrats like Kirsten Powers admit Obamacare hurts her but she’s still on board with it. If the abortifacient didn’t turn the allegedly pro-life Powers against it, a few bucks a month won’t do it. She won’t turn against it as policy, and neither will the Democrat talking heads who cater to the low-info voter out there. Enough Democrats will kick up enough dust, blaming the insurance companies and even Republicans, that enough voters will remain confused. And there are the dopes out there who think Obamacare is bad while the Affordable Care Act is good, and they don’t think ill of the president who forced the former through Congress. There are so many disconnects going on with this policy that it’s doubtful they can ever all be connected up enough for many voters to grok what’s going on.
But, maybe. Republicans have an opportunity. We predicted that Obamacare would be a disaster. It’s a disaster.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member