Democrats may or may not have the votes to pass “Obamacare” using reconciliation. To do that the House must first pass the Senate bill before the Senate can pass a reconciliation version with 51 votes; and many House Democrats don’t like the Senate bill for a variety of reasons. Beyond that, there are major procedural obstacles to overcome in the Senate.

Let’s assume, however, that Nancy Pelosi holds her troops together in the House, Harry Reid overcomes the obstacles in the Senate, and the President signs Obamacare into law. Just how will Democrats be better off? Does this mean, as Democrat leaders and pundits suggest, that they will lose fewer House and Senate seats in November than they otherwise might?

True, the party in power generally does better in mid-term elections when the President's poll numbers are higher (above 50 percent) and passing major legislative initiatives tends to improve them. Democrats believe that's what would have happened had they passed Hillarycare back in 1994. Instead Republicans won 54 seats and took control of the House.

But this is only true if the initiative has the support of the majority of the American people and other issues like the economy and homeland security aren't also depressing the president's approval ratings. Nevertheless, President Obama, former President Bill Clinton, Rahm Emanuel, Pelosi and Reid use the "better-off" argument to persuade vulnerable Democrats in Congress to vote for Obamacare.

To assume that Americans opposed to Obamacare don’t understand its substance and implications, however, ignores what happened in townhall meetings and Tea Party rallies across the country and in elections in New Jersey, Virginia, and Massachusetts.

Few major legislative proposals in American History have undergone the public scrutiny that Obamacare has received, despite Democrats' lack of transparency in the process. Broadcast and cable news media and the Internet have provided concerned Americans with access to information, analysis, and opinions on all sides of the debate. They may not understand every detail, but they certainly understand the fundamentals as well or better than some of their representatives in Congress.

Polls vary, but as many as two-thirds of the American people oppose the Democrat’s big-government approach to healthcare reform because they understand that it means government control of the healthcare sector of the US economy, it will increase taxes and healthcare insurance costs, and it will limit care. They want healthcare reform, but they don’t want the kind of reform Democrats are tying to impose on them. Passage of Obamacare won’t change their attitudes. More likely, it will only make them more inclined in November to vote against the Democrats who voted for it.

No doubt there will be some Independents that will have a more favorable view of Democrats if they pass comprehensive healthcare reform. But a large percentage, approximately 60 percent of those that voted for Obama in 2008, already have abandoned Democrats over deficit spending, their handling of the economy, and how the Obama administration has handled terrorist detainees. They’re still not likely to vote Democrat in November regardless of what they do on healthcare reform.

President Obama's poll numbers likely will improve if Obamacare passes. He will have succeeded in passing the centerpiece of his agenda. Nancy Pelosi will have strengthened her hand in the House. Harry Reid, one of those vulnerable senators likely to lose his bid for reelection in Nevada, if he loses, can leave office with his reputation among Democrats intact, become a lobbyist and make millions in the private sector.

Congressional Democrats in general, especially those who voted for Obamacare, will not be so fortunate. Republicans will defeat more of them in November than they would if Democrats agreed with Republicans to start over on common ground and work for true bipartisan healthcare reform. Democrats may even lose control of both houses of Congress.

Democrats won't be better off if they pass Obamacare, and neither will the country.