I believe eventually they’ll come around. Because Medicare and Social Security faced the same kind of criticism. Before Medicare came into law, one Republican warned that “one of these days, you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it once was like in America when men were free.” That was Ronald Reagan. And eventually, Ronald Reagan came around to Medicare and thought it was pretty good, and actually helped make it better. So that’s what's going to happen with the Affordable Care Act. And once it's working really well, I guarantee you they will not call it Obamacare. Here is a prediction for you: A few years from now, when people are using this to get coverage and everybody is feeling pretty good about all the choices and competition that they've got, there are going to be a whole bunch of folks who say, yes, I always thought this provision was excellent. (Laughter.) I voted for that thing. You watch. (Laughter.) It will not be called Obamacare. (Laughter.)

Now that's some deliciously cold stuff: Citing Ronald Reagan to remind Republicans that eventually they will come around to accepting the popularity of affordable health insurance for all. And he's right: Once the benefits of Obamacare start to unfold, and the nightmare scenario painted by Republicans prove to have been nothing but scare tactics, the very same crowd that assails Obamacare today will be trying to claim credit for it tomorrow.

The full transcript of the president's speech is available here and timaeus, who attended the speech, has a diary on the Recommended List.