The best thing that Democrats could do now is to admit that they screwed up with Obamacare, separate out the good parts and then promise to revisit the bad ones, including the unconstitutional individual mandate and the sections that have 26 states upset enough to go to court. All ideology aside, the bill was one of the worst of the past half century in its needless complexity, lack of political wisdom, and unanticipated consequences. It will be a major loser for the Dems next year. A bunch of process psychopaths, technocrats, overlawyers and data demons are to blame, and for the Democrats to waste time defending the measure in its entirety is major masochism.
Already there are signs of the bill's inability to cure the nation’s healthcare problems, things like companies dumping health plans and the cost of individual health policies rising. Add to that the states’ unhappiness with an expanding Medicaid and federal intereference in their state workers’ health plans and you have a major political problem that would be foolish just to try to talk your way out of.
The best recovery – before a Supreme Court decision that settles the matter anyway - is for Democrats to promise to review the contentious parts and do just that – beginning now. An honest, if belated, compromise could save them a lot of votes.
