My first reaction after hearing that president Obama and the Democrat leadership was taking this approach was "I think they’re counting their chickens before they hatched" ...
The biggest barrier to the passing of the initial healthcare bill was not Republicans, it was conservative Democrats. In general, in order for these conservative Democrats to support a bill like the current healthcare bill it has to be a popular measure which is passed through straight forward, honourable, and (typically) bi-partisan fashion because they require voters from both ends of the political spectrum to get re-elected. The optics of passing an unpopular bill through the use of reconciliation to avoid getting bi-partisan support are abysmal for these conservative Democrats; and I could easily see most/all of them visibly opposing this move to protect themselves.
At the same time, if Obama and the Democrat leadership can’t get a simple majority to pass this legislation while having such a dominant majority in both houses it could be their "Epic-Fail" moment; and I suspect that support from their base would soon disappear.
