Mother Jones
Is the Republican Party committing suicide this week? The final results of the shutdown blame game won’t be in until the government is un-shut. Yet at the same time that the party is allowing itself to be branded as an ideologically rigid outfit controlled by political hostage takers, it has been endangering its future by waging a high-profile but Alamo-like stand against Obamacare, just as a main component of the health care program is kicking in—and appears to be popular.
More MoJo coverage of the government shutdown.
The 10 Saddest Government Shutdown Goodbye Notes
30 Ways the Shutdown Is Already Screwing People
48 Ways a Government Shutdown Will Screw You Over
Yes, This Really Is Only the 2nd Government Shutdown in Recent History
How John Boehner Could Lose His Speakership
Harry Reid and John Boehner Really Loathe Each Other
If anything has defined the GOP in its must-destroy-Obama phase, it’s the party’s virulent opposition to the Affordable Care Act. And with Obama reelected, the economy slowly improving, and deficits slowly decreasing, Republicans have bet almost all the chips they have left on the decimation of Obamacare. With Sen. Ted Cruz wagging the party, the GOPers pushing for the government shutdown—aided and abetted by Rush Limbaugh, the Heritage Foundation, and other influentials of the far right—have focused exclusively on Obamacare. This confrontation over government spending has nothing to do with, well, government spending. The shutdown was merely a way for Cruz-controlled Republicans to vent about Obamacare. So if the Republican party stands for anything today, it is obstructing Obamacare. But here’s the rub: What if Obamacare works?
The initial response to yesterday’s opening of the state and federal exchanges that are providing affordable insurance plans to Americans who previously could not obtain coverage has Obamacare proponents dancing. Millions of Americans were not scared away by Koch-financed ads (including this rapey spot). Sure, there were glitches and websites crashed. But that’s natural, given the overwhelming demand. And the exchanges have weeks to work out the kinks before the December 15 deadline to finish enrolling people for the coming year.
So while the Republicans have succeeded in forcing a shutdown of the government—according to the latest polls, not a popular endeavor—their crusade against Obamacare has harmed their long-term prospects in several ways:
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