For Republicans, campaigning against Obamacare in the midterms will be the easy part. Even under the best case scenario for the Affordable Care Act—the technical glitches are fixed on time, enrollment proceeds apace and many consumers are happy with their new coverage—the law will produce enough losers to sustain a constituency for repeal. …

The Democrats had no problem running against the Iraq war in 2006, by which time conditions had deteriorated to the point that the Bush administration’s talking points sounded as unrealistic as Baghdad Bob’s. This was despite the fact that large numbers of Democrats were complicit in the war, with half the party’s senators, most of its leaders, and both men on its 2004 presidential ticket voting for the authorization of force.

No congressional Republicans voted for the Affordable Care Act. And while mainstream Democrats shunned attempts to defund the Iraq war, a continuing resolution defunding Obamacare passed the House and won the support of conservative senators. Consequently, no one will seriously question the GOP’s standing to run against the law’s adverse consequences.