Bruce Bartlett writes in National Review:

Back in 1985, the Coca-Cola Co. made a major screw-up. It decided to get rid of its classic cola drink and replace it with something sweeter called New Coke. The company had extensively market-tested the new product and was convinced that it would lead to higher sales. But when consumers found out that they would lose the Coke they had loved for 100 years, there was a vast outcry and the company was forced to dump New Coke and bring back the old formula.

Republicans have made a similar screw-up in adding a prescription-drug benefit to Medicare. They looked at polls showing strong support for a Medicare drug benefit and concluded that enactment of such a program would make them more popular. But as the Coca-Cola Co. discovered, people may tell market researchers one thing, but when confronted with a new reality they can quickly change their minds.

So far, the data not only show that Republicans have reaped no political benefit from the Medicare expansion, but they are losing support because of it. Ironically, those who will benefit directly from the new drug subsidies, the elderly, are the most hostile. In the process, Republicans have thrown away whatever credibility they had for fiscal responsibility, and are now actively opposed by many conservatives disgusted by their budgetary profligacy….

Consequently, Republicans are now starting to realize — as Coca-Cola did — that they screwed-up big time. As columnist Robert Novak reports, "Senior administration officials privately admit that last year’s prescription-drug bill was a disaster substantively and politically."

It is here where we really see the difference between the public sector and the private sector. When Coca-Cola executives realized they had made a big mistake, they switched gears, brought back Classic Coke, and eventually deep-sixed New Coke. They had no choice in a competitive marketplace. But government officials never admit error. So Republicans seem intent on slogging the benefits of a new drug benefit that will cost trillions of dollars for people who don’t like it.

The New Coke analogy is pretty good. Perhaps the Republican leadership lives too much in the world of Washington D.C. and doesn’t understand how these things are going to play out in the real world. But it seemed obvious from the start that this pandering would not go well. Just like messing with the formula for Coke, the loyal Coke drinkers are going to be upset because you have changed their beloved product, and the Pepsi drinkers are going to abuse you no end because you have admitted your product is inferior and needs to be improved.

The Washington D.C. Republicans seem so intent on being liked by the media, that they are willing to give away the store, hoping against experience that this time the press and the Democrats will like them. Then they are surprised when they are still attacked. Wouldn’t it be better to stand up for your principles and take the abuse for doing what you believe is right rather than compromise your principles in a vain effort to be popular? You are going to be attacked either way, so why not do what you thing is right? But this kind of common sense doesn’t exist inside the Washington D.C. beltway.

If only we could send this terrible prescription drug benefit program back to where the New Coke formula now is.