I keep sounding the warning, and all that I've predicted is coming to pass. Wake Up Democrats. [View all]

[Savannahmann]

I am constantly accused of being a plant, a trickster, or of lying when I say I want Democrats to win. From not being one of "US" by which I mean Liberal Democrats, to secretly cheering the failures.

I have an affinity for using analogy to get my point across. Let me use one now. Each election is like a football game. The game is not over until the election results come in. Like a football game, each election is divided into time, plays, and scores. The final score is sometimes a surprise, but there is always a result. After the shutdown, many of us cheered that the Republicans were destroyed, and by us I mean those on DU, and the Democratic Party at large. I didn't think so, I know the Republicans are not nearly as dumb as we would hope, and I knew that there was a lot of game between the shutdown, and the election. Yes, we scored an unopposed touchdown, and yes we had the lead, but that lead is all evaporated, and we're behind. All I am doing is trying to wake you here at DU up, and those in the DNC. I honestly think that the DNC reads this, because from time to time we know that Representative Grayson does. http://www.democraticunderground.com/~Alan%20Grayson

I have been warning that the ACA is a potential balloon, a phrase I've used, lifting us, and a potential millstone, drowning us depending on how we manage the problems. We can bemoan the Republicans, or we can work the populace around them. My goal is simple, I want to win the House in 2014. I believe we need to hold the Senate, and I think both of those outcomes are in doubt.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57613067/poll-obamacare-support-obama-approval-sink-to-new-lows/

President Obama's job approval rating has plunged to the lowest of his presidency, according to a new CBS News poll released Wednesday, and Americans' approval of the Affordable Care Act has dropped it's lowest since CBS News started polling on the law.

Thirty-seven percent now approve of the job Mr. Obama is doing as president, down from 46 percent in October -- a nine point drop in just a month. Mr. Obama's disapproval rating is 57 percent -- the highest level for this president in CBS News Polls.

You can believe I am cheering it secretly, or you can believe what I am saying when I say again that we need to manage this better. Because the next phase of the problems is less than two months away, and we are not doing anything proactive, we are barely doing anything reactive.

What we must do now. President Obama doesn't need to run out and blame the Republicans, he needs to take a leadership role, and that means proposing fixes, and improvements, even if, especially if Congress doesn't act. First IMO would be Federal assistance for those looking at medical school in exchange for the future doctors becoming General Practitioners. Second, the women's health issues that we think will take much of the sting of the screwed up rollout away will only work if the women can get those procedures done. In other words, all the medical screening coverage in the world doesn't matter if they can't get in to see a doctor to perform those procedures. Now, we can blame the Republicans, we can blame the medical industry for not having enough OB/GYN's, or we can propose fixes. We pay for college for people who want to join the Military. Why not offer to pay for college to provide a desperately needed service to their fellow people? Yes, I know it will be years before this program gets even one Doctor into the field to help us, but it is a program we can point to as a long term solution to a problem that isn't going to go away overnight.

Many here have given up on fixing the ACA and argue that now is the time to lay out the case for Single Payer. Ask yourselves this my friends. If your mechanic forgot to put the drain plug back tight into your oil pan, and all the oil leaked out, and your engine seized, would you go to the same mechanic to rebuild the engine? Nobody would, unless it was a relative who would work for free and pay for the parts to do it. Otherwise, no you wouldn't. You would go elsewhere, furious with the mechanic who screwed your engine up.

That is where we are. We can be the mechanic who screwed it up, or we can be perceived as the mechanic who is trying to salvage it and fix the problem. Speeches blaming the Republicans at this point, don't get us anywhere. Real people are looking for real answers and they don't want platitudes and finger pointing. They want answers, and they want solutions.

Even if the Republicans don't pass the Doctor training plan, then you can say that you are anxious to hear how the Republicans plan on helping the people get healthcare since there is a critical shortage of doctors. If the Republican plan is to repeal the ACA, then they are left out in the cold, while WE move forward with solutions. Then we can win in 2014, and make the changes, and set ourselves up to win again in 2016. Or we can point the fingers, and let the poll numbers continue to fall to the point that only 58% of Democrats polled approve of the ACA, and if that falls much more, the calls for repeal will be so loud that too many vulnerable Democrats in the Senate will go along to save their re-election efforts.

Best case scenario if we continue as we are, telling people that eventually they'll love the ACA, is not even rolling the dice. We need to fight for the people, because that puts us in a position to ask them to help us fight to make the improvements needed. Otherwise, we're going to be in the minority, and lucky to hold onto the White House in 2016.