Or not, you know. Whatever.
Even the
Wall Street Journal is now
forced to admit that a working Obamacare makes for a piss-poor rallying point for Republicans in this election. So much so that Republicans are now running against the word "Obamacare" as a symbol and not against the law itself.
"Obamacare is part of the mix, but it is nowhere near the sole focus of our campaigns," said Republican pollster Neil Newhouse. "Obamacare has come to symbolize government overreach, Obama's liberal values and poor policy judgment." […]
"We still capture ads attacking Obamacare just about every day of the week, but there are lots of issues being focused on now," said Elizabeth Wilner, who tracks campaign ads as vice president of Kantar Media Ad Intelligence. "Republicans were trying to make the election a referendum on the president, and a health-care law with his name on it was a perfect vehicle to do that. But now they are finding other vehicles."
Those other vehicles are immigration, and general voter dissatisfaction with how government is not working. And if you think it takes a lot of chutzpah for Republicans who have ground government to a halt to be running against government dysfunction, you're absolutely right. When has hypocrisy ever stopped them before?
That doesn't mean there won't still be obligatory Obamacare votes in the House—they had one last week. But by now that's just become as much habit as anything else. With Democrats like Mark Begich and Mark Pryor and even West Virginia's Natalie Tennant running on the benefits of the law—benefits that people are actually quite pleased with, there's not much for Republicans to do but try to change the subject.