About the "Dems need to move further left" theory.

[Hekate]

17. Hm. I remember the continuous screeching here that Obama was "spelunking" (caving in)...

...that he was throwing (pick a constituency) "under the bus," that he "promised" single payer (he did not) and reneged, and on and on ad nauseum. The perfidy of the man knew no bounds, apparently. Those of us who understood his patient strategy and defended it were driven into the BOG for the duration of his presidency. I mean, really, eight damn years.

See, I don't forget these things.

Worse, because Obama was never one to toot his own horn excessively (or even very much at all) his name got attached to the stereotypes about the plan by low-information voters and every bump in the road was magnified to a gaping chasm and attributed to him as a failure. Leftish voters who should have known better participated in this game, too.

The few red state governors who adopted the ACA and helped it succeed attached their state's name to it (KYnect, for instance) which was fine, but allowed the vilification of that "damn Obamacare" to proceed apace. Other red state governors went out of their way to be unhelpful.

When Barack Obama left office he was asked about the future of his landmark legislation, given how much the GOP wanted to destroy it. He opined that it was not going to be easy to get rid of, now that people actually had something so essential. And he was right about that. It's possible, because the GOP has devolved into something malicious. But it is not going to be easy.