Ramesh Ponnuru has an interesting piece over at National Review today.  After admitting that full repeal of ObamaCare cannot happen before 2013, and after analyzing current polling trends, Ramesh outlines several things which must happen immediately for full repeal to remain plausible in the future.

• First, “Republicans have to stop being scared of Obamacare’s ‘popular features.’” 

• Second, “Republicans have to stop worrying about vetoes.”

• Third, “The abortion issue has to be kept alive. Pro-lifers were crucial to the fight against Obamacare, not least because they had more influence among Democrats than other right-leaning groups.”

• Fourth, “The early stages of Obamacare’s implementation should come to be seen as fiascoes.”

• Fifth, “Some Democrats have to join the repeal bandwagon. The only thing bipartisan about Obamacare has been the opposition to it.”

• Sixth, “The action has to move outside Washington. It was the opposition expressed at town halls in August 2009 that stiffened Republican spines and weakened Democratic ones, thus making passage a close-run thing notwithstanding huge Democratic majorities. Washington politicians will be looking for signs that the populist anger is still there or has dissipated.”

• Seventh, “Opponents and skeptics of Obamacare cannot become resigned to it as a permanent fact of American life.”

• Eighth, “This fall, pro-Obamacare candidates must be on the defensive, and this November, anti-Obamacare candidates must be seen to have won on this issue. Republicans have to make repeal and the state of the economy their top two issues in the elections.”

• Ninth, “Republicans have to win the House.”

Read the full article here.