With nearly half of the American public believing the healthcare reform law should be
repealed, and President Barack Obama's job approval rating at an all-time low, Democrats have started distancing themselves from the term "Obamacare."
Instead, they are increasingly using the law's formal title, the "Affordable Care Act," when referring to it,
reports Politico.
The president himself used the phrase a dozen times during last week's news conference, while the word "Obamacare" did not come out of his mouth once, according to the publication.
It's a far cry from the speeches Obama gave on the campaign trail last year, when he welcomed the law's association with his own name, often telling supporters "I don't care."
Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told NBC's David Gregory on "Meet the Press" Sunday that she "always" referred to the healthcare law as the Affordable Care Act.
Story continues below video.
"The Affordable Care Act, as I call it, as I always called it, is right up there with Social Security, Medicare: affordable care for all Americans as a right, not a privilege," she said in response to Gregory's questions using the term Obamacare.
In fact, a 22-page White House document issued to Democratic Sunday show guests and
obtained by Politico instructs to avoid the term Obamacare in standard healthcare talking points.
The transition is in stark contrast to Obama's recent remarks suggesting that it would be the Republicans who stopped using the term Obamacare,
reports the Washington Beacon.
"I know healthcare is controversial, so there's only going to be so much support we get on that on a bipartisan basis—until it's working really well, and then they're going to stop calling it Obamacare," he told a crowd in New Orleans. "They're going to call it something else."
The Beacon also posted a compilation video illustrating just how dramatically the political speak has changed since the rollout of the healthcare law began on Oct. 1.
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