The odds now are depressingly high that Republicans will help rescue ObamaCare by encouraging a delay for the individual mandate, extending the enrollment period, or overturning penalties, thus once again be snared into a Democrat trap. Is it too much to expect Republicans to summon the courage to play political hardball by insisting on a fix now -- neither delays nor mitigating countermeasures permitted? Faster please... demanding a fix will pry open the ObamaCare fiasco for everyone, not only journalists or investigative analysts, to see for themselves that big government progressivism has betrayed them.

The USS ObamaCare now seems to have lost headway, is listing with water-tight doors breached, and becoming the central election issue in 2014. Why revive it through a reprieve enabled by a delay? If political fortunes were reversed, do you really believe the Democrats would hand out life jackets, life rafts, and snorkeling kits to the Republicans and call in a fleet of salvage tugs? No, Dems would delight in their opponents' misfortune and then smirk during the burial at sea rites.

Boehner & Co already offered a one-year delay for the ObamaCare individual mandate as the poison pill in its otherwise timid approach to constrict the Democrats' government spending incontinence. Of course Obama and the Dems just sneered, "screw you." Obama had his chance at a graceful do-over, but opted for instant political points rather than accept a perennial gift from the opposition that would have lifted his signature legislation into the realm of redemption. Now Obama and his disciples are screwed and sinking fast, assuming the Republicans don't man the pumps.

Predictably, mainstream establishment Republicans in the Senate seem poised to rescue ObamaCare by delaying the revealed truth. Whatever flaws have been exposed so far, those flaws are monumental and perhaps fatal. But such flaws so far are but a teaser. When the healthgov.com website is up and running, what is now a fresh gale of failed promises, defective economics, and actuarial fantasies will explode into an unpredictable hurricane, a progressive's worst nightmare. The sooner, the better.

What's the best way to convince Americans that big government health care will make their daily lives miserable? Let the Democrats' illusion of economic buoyancy sink them into icy sea water with breaking waves over their heads. But no... instead, Senators Marco Rubio and Ron Johnson will introduce bills to overturn the ObamaCare mandate penalty until the website is fixed and allow Americans the option of keeping their extant health care plans. How gallant of Rubio and Johnson to lead the Dems from a watery grave to an air pocket.

By cooperating with nervous Senate Democrats up for re-election in tossup states, Repubs mistakenly believe they will be doing a favor to Americans caught in the healthcare version of the unattainable biofuels blend mandate. No, all Americans must have an existential connection to unaffordable prices, canceled policies, insurance companies dropping doctors, doctors dropping patients -- widespread panic. Let an exasperated electorate see for themselves that promises of progressive big government heaven is in fact a Hobbesian statist hell.

Republicans have a choice to reject the role of salvage partner. In the wake of ObamaCare's implosion, Republicans could lead the entire nation away from the brink of socialized medicine back to what should have been enacted all along:

1) restoring the doctor/patient relationship with no intermediaries,

2) eliminating tax preferences for employer sponsored health care,

3) providing flat tax credits to all Americans for their private health care expenditures,

4) adding health care subsidies to unemployment compensation,

5) permitting high deductible Health Savings Accounts,

6) introducing catastrophic event insurance to be sold across state lines,

7) enacting meaningful medical malpractice tort reform,

8) fixing Medicaid to incentivize more doctors to treat the dispossessed, infirm, and people in chronic poverty.

But for once, Republicans might follow Nancy Pelosi's advice, "Just fix it." Indeed. Just let Obama try to fix what's unfixable, get bogged down in a quagmire of his own making, and endure the lashings from an abused electorate.

Oh to long for Paradiso as Dante pined for his love Beatrice, as she would lead him out of purgatory. Alas it was only a dream.