We've already established that Mitch McConnell is trying to dodge accountability for supporting Obamacare repeal by exploiting public confusion over the identity between Kentucky's successful, popular insurance exchange—Kynect—and the law itself.

But the real political bombshell here is that the senator feels compelled to dodge accountability for his position at all. This simple observation—perhaps subjoined by six or seven exclamation marks—shatters the conventional wisdom that Obamacare politics are simple, straightforward, and winning for this year's Republican candidates. And the many Democrats who adhere to that wisdom will blow a huge opportunity to capitalize on the opening McConnell just created, if they fail to set it aside for now.

I understand why these Democrats are reluctant. Conservatives spent the last eight months essentially executing a psy-op mission to convince liberals that Obamacare is much less supportable than it actually is, and intimidate Democrats out of running on it proactively. I've been arguing that the politics of Obamacare would undergo a marked shift in 2014 for a long time now, and more or less stuck to my guns during the rollout failures this past fall. Others did too. The whole way through, conservatives met us with gleeful mockery anytime we suggested Obamacare politics carried any risk for Republicans or were nuanced in any way. Including McConnell's spokesman!

@ThePlumLineGS @DavidMDrucker Which song are you whistling as you walk past that graveyard? — S2 (@StewSays) February 25, 2014

These get better by the day: http://t.co/u7JuvkfgHA — Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) April 1, 2014

LOL RT @tnr: Uh oh. Obamacare's success is destroying the GOP's midterm strategy, writes @brianbeutler. http://t.co/77Cabm6mPt — Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) April 21, 2014

All of that was wrong. Obamacare will probably still net poorly for Democrats this year, but the complete picture turned out to be nowhere near as stark as conservatives believed, or wanted people to believe. Taking away people's health insurance is unsupportable. Repealing their consumer protections is unsupportable. McConnell understands this. It completely explains his latest equivocation. And his equivocation in turn proves that Democrats can alter the currents of Obamacare politics at key moments, but only if they're willing to occasionally brave its waters. McConnell's opponent, Alison Lundergan Grimes, dipped her big toe in those waters Wednesday, but couldn't ultimately bring herself to dive in with the crucial words "Affordable Care Act."

"Mitch McConnell has been in the fantasyland that is Washington for so long that he cannot tell the difference between fact and fiction," said her campaign manager, Jonathan Hurst. "McConnell has voted to destroy Kynect—and he has said he will do it again. In the U.S. Senate, Alison Lundergan Grimes will fix the law to ensure it is working for all Kentuckians."