Somewhat, says Politico's Carrie Budoff Brown, but "they won’t have to swallow most of the bitter pills until much later — well after President Barack Obama faces voters again in 2012."
It shouldn't come as a surprise that Dems plan to provide some immediate benefits to "inoculate" themsevles from GOP scrutiny during the midterm elections. In addition, Dems are also banking on the fact once you give the public benefits, they will not want to give them back. The biggest and most costly changes to the health care system--including tax increases--do not come until AFTER Obama's re-election bid in 2012.
It's clear that if the GOP hopes to wage a successful campaign against Democrats this fall, continuing to educate the public on exactly what the new health care law entails will need to be a top priority.