It goes without saying that it's going to be a pain in the ass to make a successful pitch for the individual mandates. The car insurance thing doesn't work, and it's going to be politically sketchy unless someone comes up with a much better thing than "you have to buy auto insurance, so..."
Knowing that, I don't think it helps to also be pitching the 2014 date. One of the easiest things to sell about this bill are the subsidies, but if they don't kick in until the midterm election year of the next presidential term, how can the pitch have any teeth, especially with premiums riding up and mandates looming. It's like telling a loan shark, "I've got your money! Just not right now."
Both Kevin Drum and Paul Starr explain that the 2014 delay is mostly about deferring the cost of the bill. Again, deficit reduction shouldn't be a priority during a recession, much less a healthcare crisis. Carve out some of the deficit reduction and get the subsidies rolling sooner.
This is definitely a feature of the bill that needs to top the Fix List.