Have you ever watched a football game in which a team runs the ball seemingly at will and wins in a rout? And then, in a rematch, that same team for no good reason throws the ball repeatedly, with little success? Meet Team Republican. In 2010, it ran Obamacare down the Democrats’ throats. The GOP won, 63-0. Now, in the rematch, the Republicans have changed strategy. Confident in their ability to throw easy touchdown passes on the economy, they’ve eschewed the running game. But so far the GOP has barely been able to complete a pass. The Democrats, who really have no idea how to stop the run, must feel like the luckiest team around.
What gives? Is it possible Republicans have forgotten how they won a historic 63 House seats (and 6 Senate seats) just two years ago?
As exit polling clearly showed at the time, it wasn’t because of the economy. Rather, on the heels of a highly unpopular crusade by President Obama and congressional Democrats to impose a massive health care overhaul, Republicans won because of voters’ concerns over the federal government’s size, scope, reach, and insatiable appetite for money and power. They won because they were united against Obamacare and everything it represents.