Democrats forced Obamacare down the national throat in defiance of the views of the American people. Having badly lost the political debate, they assured themselves that once people found out what was in it, we would thank them and see the wisdom of the new law’s ways.
Uh, not so much. And so, the Dems are not campaigning on their “achievement.” The new meme from Obamacare defenders is apparently going to be, “Don’t worry! We’ll improve it.” From the Politico’s Ben Smith:
Key White House allies are dramatically shifting their attempts to defend health care legislation, abandoning claims that it will reduce costs and deficit and instead stressing a promise to “improve it.” The messaging shift was circulated this afternoon on a conference call and PowerPoint presentation organized by Families USA — one of the central groups in the push for the initial legislation. The call was led by a staffer for the Herndon Alliance, which includes leading labor groups and other health care allies. It was based on polling from three top Democratic pollsters: John Anzalone, Celinda Lake and Stan Greenberg.
The confidential presentation, available in full here and provided to POLITICO by a source on the call, suggests that Democrats are acknowledging the failure of their predictions that the health care legislation would grow more popular after its passage, as its benefits became clear and rhetoric cooled. Instead, the presentation is designed to win over a skeptical public, and to defend the legislation — and in particular the individual mandate — from a push for repeal. The presentation concedes that groups typically supportive of Democratic causes — people under 40, non-college-educated women and Hispanic voters — have not been won over by the plan. Indeed, it stresses repeatedly that many are unaware that the legislation has passed, an astonishing shortcoming in the White House’s all-out communications effort.
The law is a disaster, and the passage of time can’t change that. The way to “improve” it is to—Repeal. Replace. Reform. Defund.
