Conservatives: listen to Axelrod.

No, I’m not kidding.

One of the president’s closest advisers said on Tuesday that Republican opponents of health care reform let down their guard following Sen. Scott Brown’s election in Massachusetts, in the process allowing Democrats and the administration to make a final, successful push for the bill.

In an interview with the Huffington Post hours after the president signed health care reform into law, senior adviser David Axelrod pointed to that special election in late January as a pivotal point in the long path to passing legislation.

“Some of the steam went out of the opposition after that,” Axelrod said. “I think that people felt like they had made a statement. Perhaps they felt like they had killed health care reform… They thought the fight was over.

Whether or not Republicans “thought the fight was over” then, we’ve got to make sure everybody understands: it isn’t over now. I fear the communal sigh of relief. The subconscious relax reflex, following on the months of intensity.

People: do we really think we’ve done all we need to do to ensure conservative and Republican victories in November? We haven’t!

I’m going to keep repeating this:

President Clinton was “irrelevant” after the 1994 elections. President Bush, Sr., was untouchable after the First Gulf War. President Obama is toast now that ObamaCare has passed.

Which of these things might turn out to be exactly like the others?

Via Memeorandum.