ObamaCare cost the president "a lot of credibility as a leader," said Virginia Sen. Jim Webb.

"The climate out there was really ugly because of it," said Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash.

Former Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala., says ObamaCare "is the single least popular piece of major domestic legislation in the last 70 years." It will be "an albatross" for Democrats in 2012, Davis predicts.

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., had labored in 2009 to develop a health reform plan that could win bipartisan support.

Having Republicans on board would have deflected the sharp partisan divide, but the White House short-circuited the effort because the president and his advisers grew impatient with the delay.

As it is, the health care overhaul law is in serious trouble and may either be struck down by the Supreme Court â€" in part or in full â€" or become a major issue in the 2012 elections, with a strong effort on behalf of conservatives to push for full repeal next year.

Two-thirds of the American people in a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll said they want all or part of the law to be struck down by the courts. If the Congress remains divided and President Obama is re-elected, major changes will have to be made to the law.

The cost is soaring even before most of its provisions take effect in 2014. The Congressional Budget Office now calculates the 10-year cost will be $1.76 trillion, nearly twice the $940 billion estimated when the law was enacted two years ago. In an era of ballooning federal deficits, these costs are simply unacceptable.

Further, major companies are seriously considering dropping health insurance coverage altogether to avoid the huge costs of complying with the employer mandate.