Obama is attempting little short of a social revolution. Last time anything like that happened in the UK, under Thatcher, she was blunt BEFORE the 1979 election about her plans, especially union reform.

She then extended her reform agenda to include privatisation, cutting whole swathes of British industry free of state ownership and control. But at least she had the grace to spell out her plans fully eg in the British telecom White Paper of 1982 - and then fight for them in the 1983 election.

Obama did NOT spell out the implications of his proposals. That is why so many people reject them as unaffordable and damaging to existing health care arrangements