Will the GOP's Obamacare Obsession Sink It in 2014?

In the last days of his failed campaign gubernatorial GOP nutcase Ken Cuccinelli could talk of little else other than Obamacare - even though the Affordable Health Care Act ("AHCA") is a FEDERAL law that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.  Now, it looks like a similar obsession will characterize the GOP as the nation heads into the 2014 midterm elections.  Why the obsession?  Personally, I believe shrieks of Obamacare are dog whistle calls to the racists in the GOP base - e.g., a base increasingly made up of aging angry white men - which still cannot stand the fact that a black man is in the White House.  This more than any problems with the AHCA roll out is what motivates the GOP even though more Americans cite other issues as more important.  A column in the Washington Post looks at this GOP obsession.  Here are excerpts:

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Tuesday outlined his party’s priorities for 2014. They are, in ascending order of importance:

●Obamacare.
●Obamacare! Obamacare!
●OBAMACARE! OBAMACARE! OBAMACARE! OBAMACARE! OBAMACARE!!!

“We’ve promised that in 2014 we’d continue to pound away at Democrats and Obamacare and that’s how we’re starting the year,” the chairman told reporters on a conference call. 

A reporter from the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette asked Priebus if “Obamacare is going to be the Johnny-one-note campaign for Republicans” in which “every issue that comes up, you’re going to respond with Obamacare.” Or, he inquired, “is there more to what Republicans want in 2014?”
“The answer is Obamacare,” Priebus said, before adding a “just kidding.” But he wasn’t really kidding.
The American public has a different view. A Gallup poll last month found that 47 percent cited economic issues as their top concern, including 31 percent who listed the overall economy and jobs. After that, 21 percent named dissatisfaction with government, followed by 17 percent who ranked health care. A CBS News poll a month earlier found much the same: Thirty-one percent cited the economy or jobs, compared to 15 percent listing health care. 

But Priebus does seem to be in sync with Republicans in Congress. . . . . Indeed, Americans do have enough things to worry about, but now they have the additional worry that one of the two major political parties is collectively suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder. Immigration? Iraq? Unemployment benefits? The Republicans, following a year that included dozens of repeal attempts and a government shutdown over Obamacare, are prepared to respond to all with Obamacare, Obamacare and Obamacare.

Chris Moody of Yahoo News saddled Priebus with another difficult question: How much progress had he made on last year’s RNC autopsy, which asserted, among other things, that the party should soften its position on immigration and gay rights?

Priebus avoided a discussion of ideology by saying his job was “building up the infrastructure and plumbing of this party.”

He might find that the plumbing would work better if Republicans would stop trying to flush Obamacare.

 As I said, I believe the Obamacare obsession is really about something else - rallying the angry white male base of the GOP.  Let's hope that come November these angry bigots do not number enough to save the GOP's ass.