The media and the Democrats have been blaming the Republican Party and insurance companies for the negative reaction to the Obamacare plan. First, I don't think the Republican Party is capable of planning and then planting all of these angry people at townhall meetings. Second, you do not hear many protests from insurance groups or the medical lobby (as you did when Hillary was trying to push her plan through in the early 1990s), because they have been "bought" or "wooed" by various provisions in the plan.
There are the typical right-wing opponents (like pro-lifers), but the vast majority are angry, aging Democrats or Independents who voted for Obama. You see this especially in Florida and Arizona. The Democrats have a problem few people realize. I believe Barone has shown this in a recent column: Of the 21 top leadership members and chairmen, five come from districts carried by John McCain, but the average vote in the other 16 districts was 71 percent to 27 percent for Obama. If Obama and the Democrats lose the party moderates, it will become a minority party (still a significant party with a heavy leftist orientation).
The Democrats have a problem with their own constituency, but no one in the mainstream media seems to see this. Obama and Democrats could be ignoring this intra-party problem to their own detriment. Even if they ram this proposal through, what is going to happen a few years from now when these angry people face an insensitive health bureaucracy (aka the post office)? Today's anger could become tomorrow's rage.
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