Are Democrats shaking in their boots at the prospect of facing Republicans over Obamacare in 2014? Well, one of them is, and he gave
The Hill plenty of material to suggest so.
Anxious Democrats fear a botched implementation of ObamaCare could dash their hopes of controlling the House and Senate for President Obama’s last two years in office. [...]
One high-ranking Democrat told The Hill that it is his leading concern.
“The White House is going to have to step up its game,” the lawmaker said. “The Republicans are doing everything they can to prevent success … The White House is going to need to understand that.”
Well, by all means, if one high-ranking Democrat is concerned then they must all be in a panic, right? Preemptively blaming the president and running away from the law, because that's what Democrats are expected to do. So thanks, anonymous Dem, for reinforcing that narrative.
There's no question that Republicans are going to continue to run against Obamacare. They've already had 40 votes to repeal the law and there will be more, because all the freshman Republicans want to have their turn to go on record as symbolically opposed to more people having access to health insurance. And plenty of Republican governors and legislatures around the country will do their part to try to sabotage the new law, too, to make implementation as complicated as they can.
There is a big lift for the White House ahead in educating and informing the public about the law, but it's not an insurmountable challenge. It'd be a hell of a lot easier if concerned Democrats were actually helping in that process instead of laying it all at President Obama's feet. Republicans are doing their best to psyche Democrats out right now over Obamacare, to put them on the defensive. And why not? It's worked for them before. Democrats need to respond not by reinforcing the Republican narrative, but by making the damned law work.