Even in the giddy afterglow of the new Congress, when all things seem possible, few Republicans seriously think that the Affordable Care Act will be repealed in 2015. More realistically, various politicians have averred that a Republican Congress may have the wherewithal to repeal some of its more unpopular provisions and fix a few others.

But even this modest goal is probably unattainable, at least as long as President Obama is around to veto legislation. Someone who has paid a heavy political price for getting his signature legislative achievement into law isn’t anxious to entertain proposals to roll it back.