Periodically I’ll hear a fan of Obama argue that the health-care plan’s critics don’t know what’s in the bill, thus their opposition is meaningless, or irrelevant, or based upon ignorance, or likely to wither, etc.

Yes, we’ve all heard the Democrats joking about constituents who fear Medicare turning into a government program. But I’d bet the average opponent knows more, and has more realistic expectations, about the bill than the average supporter:

“They’re saying, ‘Where do we get the free Obama care, and how do I sign up for that?’ ” said Carrie McLean, a licensed agent for eHealthInsurance.com. The California-based company sells coverage from 185 health insurance carriers in 50 states.
McLean said the call center had been inundated by uninsured consumers who were hoping that the overhaul would translate into instant, affordable coverage. That widespread misconception may have originated in part from distorted rhetoric about the legislation bubbling up from the hyper-partisan debate about it in Washington and some media outlets, such as when opponents denounced it as socialism.
“We tell them it’s not free, that there are going to be things in place that help people who are low-income, but that ultimately most of that is not going to be taking place until 2014,” McLean said.

The average Obamacare opponent thinks that a big, complicated, expensive government program is going to be full of mistakes and snafus and frustrate large swaths of the public, not exactly a longshot bet. Meanwhile, the supporters showed up and chanted, “affordable quality health care for all,” as if yelling it loud enough could make it appear.

By the way, how revealing is it that the DCCC is invoking Bush instead of running on the health-care bill?