If the Republicans will only fund the government and raise the debt ceiling if the President and Senate agree to a delay in the implementation of Obamacare for one year, I say let's offer it to them, but on one condition -- that the implementation of the Affordable Care Act not be delayed for one second.
I think this would be a great PR move on many fronts:
1. It would get a tremendous amount of press coverage. Imagine the President saying that he will agree to delay the implementation of the (non-existent) Obamacare Act of 2010 - that will make people stop and notice. The press would jump all over this story.
2. It will make it clear to everyone that "Obamacare" and the Affordable Care Act are one and the same, a fact of which only a small segment of the American public is aware. Even the press, in covering the story, would have to educate the public that they are the same, or they would look like total fools. So for once we could force them to do their jobs.
3. The "Affordable Care Act" has consistently had higher approval ratings in poll after poll than "Obamacare." Making people realize that they are the same thing will result in higher approval ratings for "Obamacare."
4. The Republicans will have to refuse the President's offer and explain why. The public will realize that the Repubs have been lying to them and trying to confuse them. The Repubs will also have to explain why Affordable Care is bad for them.
I always thought that the Dems should have fought tooth and nail against the naming of the ACA as "Obamacare" because everyone who didn't like Obama would oppose it based on the name alone, and that has clearly turned out to be the case. On the other hand, who is opposed to making things more affordable?
However, this is a great opportunity to turn the tables on the Frank Luntz Republican message machine, and in a dramatic yet funny way.
What do you all think?