They actually said they wanted to repeal it, but that Obama would veto it so they had a back-up plan aimed at individual provisions (which might get enough Dem support to override a veto, whereas it might be hard to do that for the full “Obamacare” act).
I would suspect that what has happened is that the GOP have found that there are a lot of Dems who don’t want Obamacare tied around their necks, and now that Obama has turned out to be the kiss of death at the polling place, they’d be okay with opposing him. So there might actually be enough votes to override a veto, in which case Obama, to spare himself any further embarrassment, might not even veto it (although he will blame the GOP for the fact that “Obamacare” sucked in the first place, even though none of them voted for it).
“They actually said they wanted to repeal it..”
My memory recalls McConnell not having any appetite for taking it on. When asked about his top priority, he said it was to hold the majority in the 2016 election.
I don’t mean to come across as bitter, but this election has given Liberty a chance undo the last 6 (or more) years and these two leaders just don’t seem up to the task..