The disastrous roll-out of ObamaCare is exerting a profound gravitational pull on the nation’s political climate. Obama’s approval ratings are reaching the lowest point of his presidency. The short-term advantage Democrats enjoyed over Republicans in the wake of the government shutdown has disappeared. Earlier this year, Democrats entertained thoughts of winning back the House. If current trends hold, they would be lucky to hold on to the seats they have.
Anger among Democrats in Congress is boiling over, as their political fortunes suffer from the fallout of ObamaCare. “Here we are, we’re supposed to be selling this to people, and it’s all screwed up,” The Hill reported one House Dem chief of staff said. “This either gets fixed or this could be the demise of the Democratic Party.”
Another Democrat chief of staff remarked, “Is [Obama] even more unpopular than George W. Bush? I think that’s already happened.”
While a lot of criticism is focused on the failed Healthcare.gov website, the problem for Democrats runs much deeper than that. Eventually, the website is likely to get fixed. Even so, millions of Americans will lose policies Democrats promised they could keep. Unless millions of young and healthy people enroll, something they aren’t doing now, premiums for those in the exchanges will skyrocket next year. Just in time for the mid-term elections.
Leftist policies always result in negative unintended consequences. Most of these, however, are hidden from view. The public can’t see the business that didn’t open because of too much regulation. ObamaCare is different, though. It is having a very real, and very negative, impact on millions of American families.
From now on, the public will view progressive proposals with a skeptical and jaundiced eye. ObamaCare could very well be the end of the progressive wing of the Democrat party.