The ACA will prove a disaster, maybe better than nothing, maybe worse, but nowhere near as bad as this shutdown, which is about to get folded into the debt ceiling showdown.
The Republicans only had to put up a token resistance to Obamacare, and wait for the horror stories of people losing their company-paid care, losing their hours, and dying because they can't afford to use the care they get to start rolling in. The Dems would have had some defenses but the stories about what didn't happen wouldn't have been so dramatic. The Dems would have paid dearly for giving in to corporate pressure and turning their backs on the real solution, backed by a majority of the public: Single Payer, enhanced Medicare for All.
As for Obama, he would have been happily retired by then and reaping his reward as a favorite of the billionaire bankers, paying half a million per speech and slapping him on the back, saying "job well done!"
The way this is working out is much worse for the people. Maybe by design.
As we roll into this crisis, Obama has already called for a resumption of negotiations on a "grand bargain", which is code for cutting Social Security, Medicaire, Medicaid, SSI and SSDI, SNAP and School Lunches, education aid, and just about everything else that's actually necessary or useful. The leaders in Congress of both parties are showing support for the idea.
Short of this Obama has apparently let himself be put in a lose/lose situation. No matter what he does he will be impeached by the House for violating the Constitution - although the Senate will surely acquit him. His responsibility under the Constitution to honor the US debts and spend the money Congress has appropriated, and his responsibility not to tank the world's economy, could impel him to defy the House if they won't meet him in making a deal on the backs of the American people.
The House leaders no doubt think he won't stand up to them, but events and pressures could push him into it.
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