Strangely, you cane blame the defeat of Cash for Croakers in Barney Frank. If it weren't for the overt resistance to reform anything Fannie & Freddie, spearheaded by Frank at the time, its possible the housing bust would have not happened, or at least have been far more minimized. Thus the economy wouldn't have taken such a downturn, possibly have even been recovering, which would have provided the Dems the rationale that now is a good time to invest in Obamacare, and could have been sold that way.
Then again, if the housing bust hadn't of happened, McCain would have been President