If you’d told me last year that complete Republican control of Congress and the White House would lead to nothing getting done, I would have laughed at you. Of course, last year I would have laughed at the idea of complete Republican control of government, so the idea of no legislative accomplishments would have been a joke not worth telling. Turns out all the jokes, at least so far, have been on us.
That Obamacare repeal fell apart – or, more correctly, never really got off the ground – was a surprise only because Republicans had promised it for years only to have it exposed that many of them didn’t really mean it. They were like the high-rolling poker player who’d just had his bluff called by a rank amateur – they’d painted themselves into a corner. Republicans always have been afraid of health policy as an issue, just as Democrats have little to say on national defense, because only a few actually know the details.
Republicans know how to complain about health policy – it’s not hard when the problems are so obvious. But few truly meant repeal because only a few truly believe the federal government shouldn’t be involved in controlling the health insurance industry. The rest think the government should “do something” to lower costs and don’t understand that this is not what happens when government gets involved.
In other words, they campaign a good game about the free market; they just have no idea what those words mean.
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