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PDFFrom Mother Jones:
When conservative activists began laying the groundwork months ago for their plan to shut down the federal government, their stated goal was delaying or defunding the Affordable Care Act, the equivalent of landing a haymaker on President Obama’s signature policy achievement. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tromped around Texas railing against the health care law, a banner proclaiming “DEFUND OBAMACARE” hanging behind him.
Yet the ultimate goal of conservative interest groups such as Heritage Action and FreedomWorks has always been the wholesale repeal of Obamacare. Some conservative lawmakers reportedly even insisted on repealing Obamacare as part of a deal to end the government shutdown that began on October 1.
But on Fox News Wednesday morning, Michael Needham, the CEO of Heritage Action, brought some reality to the discussion over repealing Obamacare:
Fox News: With a Democrat in the White House and Harry Reid with the majority in the Senate, what can you do [to stop Obamacare]?
Needham: Well, everybody understands that we’re not going to be able to repeal this law until 2017. And that we have to win the Senate and win the White House.
But right now, it is clear that this bill is not ready for primetime. It is clear that this bill is unfair. The president’s given a waiver to employers; why can’t we give that waiver to the individual people all across America?”So there you have it.
Boomerang! Poll Reveals GOP’s Government Shutdown Bolstered Obamacare’s Popularity By 20%
After years of false narratives, misstated data and a remarkably successful campaign to poison the Affordable Care Act in the hearts and minds of the American public, Republicans have finally run into the one force that could improve the perception of healthcare reform in the eyes of the people….
Themselves.
According to the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll out this week, the GOP-Tea Party efforts to defund or delay Obamacare—the demand which directly led to the government shutdown—has brought about a seven point increase in popularity of the law.
Immediately prior to the shutdown, only 31 percent of Americans believed Obamacare was a good idea. Today, that number is 38 percent, just one percentage point lower than the peak approval number of forty percent that was achieved in July 2012.
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