Only 37% of the public feels favorably toward Obamacare, but 50% want to keep or expand it. It turns out that many of the unfavorable/don't know opinions aren't from people who dislike healthcare reform,they're from people who don't think Obamacare went far enough.

From Mother Jones' review of Kaiser's Obamacare data.

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/11/kaisers-fascinating-obamacare-data

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A largely un-examined menace lurks in November's election.

If elected, Romney -- a fairly prudent man -- cannot prevent a radicalized Republican Congress from dismantling large swathes of necessary government.

Ironically, Tea Bags themselves would loathe the outcomes they "think" they want from their slash-and-burn ideology.

If nothing else -- and there would be much more -- drastic austerity cuts will provoke a second, even more catastrophic economic collapse than the one begun in 2007-2008.

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09/04/2012

Repealing Obamacare would take health care away from people

By Greg Sargent

Stacey Lihn, the very nervous and emotional mother of a child with a heart defect, at the Dem convention just now:

For me, there was the day the Affordable Care Act passed. And I no longer had to worry about getting Zoey the care she needed. There was the day the letter arrived from the insurance company, saying that our daughter’s lifetime cap had been lifted...if God forbid, Zoey needs a heart transplant., Obamacare provides my family security and relief.

But we’re also scared. Governor Romney repealing health care reform is something we worry about nearly every single day. Zoey’s third open heart surgery will happen either next year or the year after.

If Mitt Romney becomes president and Obamacare is repealed, there is a good chance she’ll hit her lifetime cap. There’s no way we can afford the care she needs to survive. When you have a sick chilld, it’s always in the back of your mind, and sometimes in the front of your mind. On top of that, worrying that people would let an insurance company take away her health care, just because of politics? One in 100 children are born with a congenital heart defect. President Obama is fighting for them. And we need to fight for him.

There’s been a good deal of punditry to the effect that Obama and Dems will have to run from the health law this cycle; Obamacare remains unpopular and a symbol of Obama taking his eye off the ball of the economy; etc. This doesn’t really look like running away from the health law, does it?

If Dems want to draw a contrast between what an Obama second term and a Romney first term would look like, this is not a bad place to start: If Obama is reelected, the law that protects people like Stacey Lihn’s daughter will continue to be implemented. If Romney is elected, it very well may be taken away and we’ll be returned to a pre-reform free for all. Whatever people tell pollsters about the law, they don’t want to go back to that. Cynics will say this sort of display is all about appealing to the base. But stories like this will also resonate with the true undecided voters that will decide this election.

By Greg Sargent  |  09:19 PM ET, 09/04/2012