Why Obamacare is a losing issue for Romney

Mitt Romney doubled down on his plan to "repeal" Obamacare recently, but this could help sink his campaign.

As each day goes by, more people benefit from features of Obamacare and many are aware of why they are receiving these benefits.  At the same time, individuals learn each day that they will come to depend on Obamacare for their retirement especially if they plan on retiring or are forced to retire before they are eligible for Medicare.

Each of these individuals may find Mitt Romney's plan to axe Obamacare as harmful to their future and it could have an influence on their vote.  The impact could be especially strong among undecided voters.  On the other hand, the number of people who would vote against President Obama because of Obamacare has no stimulus to grow.

As people learn about Obamacare, they find that most of the information that they thought was true is actually inaccurate.  A report just released today by Kaiser, for example, indicates that if Romney were to repeal Obamacare, Medicare would go bankrupt by 2016.

Therefore, the more Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan attack Obamacare, the more they risk losing voters who are becoming dependent on that coverage or who are learning that they already benefit from its provisions.

Obama's campaign team, for its part, can counter attacks on Obamacare by helping people to understand how the Affordable Care Act is helping them or will help them in the future.  Obamacare forms part of a different vision of the future shared by the president and Democrats that focuses on people helping people with a role for government.  In this vision, the government, funded by the people, is not the enemy.

The vision of Mitt Romney and the Republicans, in its most extreme view, almost demonizes government. They do seem to see a role for government in assisting big business, for example, subsidies for big oil and gas.  Yet, they have a problem with safety nets for ordinary people. Their vision is one in which government and the elite move on a different track than that of the middle class and the poor.