The Etch-A-Sketch moment has arrived

[Conan71]

In all the conversations about the Affordable Care Act, known to republicans as ObamaCare, I somehow missed where the original ideas came from. I watched a documentary about Romney recently and it mentioned that the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank that republicans so cherish, was the original source of the main tenets of the act. Romney used the idea with full support of the party till Obama basically copied it. Then of course it was smile on a stick.

Is that true?

It's also widely referred to as Obamacare by Democrat law makers, left-leaning pundits, news anchors, and talk show hosts.  In fact, it's rare to hear anyone NOT refer to it as Obamacare.

[nathanm]

It was decided some months back that it's a good thing that its popular name references Obama.

[erfalf]

It was decided some months back that it's a good thing that its popular name references Obama.

You've got to admit that starting all the goodies before this election was a wise move. So now Obamacare has a relatively positive connotation. Pushing all the more unknown aspects and less popular features back after the election was purely political.

[nathanm]

You've got to admit that starting all the goodies before this election was a wise move. So now Obamacare has a relatively positive connotation. Pushing all the more unknown aspects and less popular features back after the election was purely political.

It hasn't really helped. All along people poll quite positively (70% or more) to almost all the individual aspects of the law, but support for the law as a whole remains evenly split. Besides, the real goodies don't get here for the uninsured until after the election.

[erfalf]

It hasn't really helped. All along people poll quite positively (70% or more) to almost all the individual aspects of the law, but support for the law as a whole remains evenly split. Besides, the real goodies don't get here for the uninsured until after the election.

I remember seeing polls confirming what you say about supporting most of the elements of it. But how do you figure the discrepancy between that and support for the legislation as a whole? You would have to assume a good chunk of those 70% love it all and hate it all at the same time.

[nathanm]

I remember seeing polls confirming what you say about supporting most of the elements of it. But how do you figure the discrepancy between that and support for the legislation as a whole? You would have to assume a good chunk of those 70% love it all and hate it all at the same time.

It's called cognitive dissonance. Each and every one of us suffers from it to some degree or another. Basically, the Republicans have successfully branded the name ObamaCare in a negative way, but they have failed to change people's opinion on the (im)propriety of the provisions contained in the law. It's the same thing that drives fewer than one in 5 to approve of the job Congress as a whole is doing while over half approve of their particular Congressperson.

[erfalf]

It's called cognitive dissonance. Each and every one of us suffers from it to some degree or another. Basically, the Republicans have successfully branded the name ObamaCare in a negative way, but they have failed to change people's opinion on the (im)propriety of the provisions contained in the law. It's the same thing that drives fewer than one in 5 to approve of the job Congress as a whole is doing while over half approve of their particular Congressperson.

Even so, the approval of the overall legislation I recall thinking was less than the President's approval rating. I would think they would be fairly in line.