Politico reports:

Democrats have a senior citizen problem. Frustrated older Americans are packing the town halls on health care. They are incredibly passionate about their Medicare benefits. Polls show senior citizens largely disapprove of health care reform ideas so far. And of course, they vote—in larger numbers than any other demographic. But so far, Democrats have focused much of their health care sales pitch on middle-class Americans and the uninsured—a slight that has been noticed by senior citizens, who hold great influence with members of Congress.

The problem is not simply that it’s hard to make the case (even for the likes of Nancy Pelosi and Robert Gibbs) that senior citizens are dupes of the RNC; it is that these people vote. They vote in numbers disproportionate to their share of the electorate. And they vote in off-year elections. In short, they don’t like ObamaCare, and they matter politically.

Moreover, when the president and members of Congress talk about slashing billions from Medicare, the anxiety level among seniors, who know a thing or two about Medicare, only goes up. To be blunt, they are less likely to buy Obama’s spin than is the average 30-something voter.

Obama can try to “dispel myths” all he likes. But so long as he is pushing a plan in which government takes a larger and larger role in medical decision-making and seeks to achieve “savings” by “cannibalizing Medicare,” as Sen. John Cornyn put it, he’s going to have a problem with seniors. And if the Democrats are in an uproar over getting health-care “reform” passed and supporters of ObamaCare re-elected, then 2010 will be an uphill battle.