Confident from enrollment numbers, Obama turns focus to GOP health care and budget plans

President Barack Obama continued to tout the success of the health care law, using the momentum to attack the House GOP's new budget proposal, as well as providing a blueprint for the defense of the law for Democrats in upcoming elections. 

McClatchy: With 7 Million Enrolled, Obama Exudes New Confidence About Health Care Law
While further challenges remain, both politically and logistically, the unexpected success of the marketplace enrollment period helps ensure that the president's signature legislation will usher in one of the broadest expansions of national health coverage since the Medicaid and Medicare programs were launched in 1965 and the Children's Health Insurance Program was established in 1997 (Pugh and Wise, 4/2).

Politico: Barack Obama On GOP Health Care And Economic Plans: 'Stinkburger' Or 'Meanwhich'
President Barack Obama headed out on the road Wednesday still glowing from the latest Obamacare numbers and set his sights on congressional Republicans still working to obstruct his agenda. The House GOP's new budget proposal and efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act "should be familiar because it was their economic plan in the 2012 campaign, it was their economic plan in 2010," he said at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. "It's like that movie 'Groundhog Day.' Except it's not funny" (Epstein, 4/2).

Los Angeles Times: Obama, Lampooning GOP, Calls For Hike In Minimum Wage
The edgy message opened a new phase for Obama. With the rollout of his 2010 health law nearly complete, the president is now focusing on the congressional elections and on keeping the Senate in Democratic hands, a task his advisors think depends in part on his ability to draw a sharp contrast with the GOP's economic proposals (Parsons and Memoli, 4/2).

NBC News: Obama Offers A Blueprint For Democrats To Defend Health Law
President Obama's remarks on Tuesday hailing the 7 million-plus Americans who enrolled in the health-care exchanges were more than a victory lap. They also served as his blueprint to the Democrats running for re-election -- from Mary Landrieu in Louisiana and Kay Hagan in North Carolina, to Mark Udall in Colorado and Gary Peters in Michigan -- on how to defend the law in this tough political environment for their party. The question is whether these Democrats make the same arguments and borrow the same language; many of them would prefer that health care simply fade as an issue (Todd, Murray and Dann, 4/2).