We had been worried. The focus on repealing & replacing Obamacare at all costs seemed dumb to us. It was one of the purest examples of fighting the last war. That stupidity is usually reserved for dumb generals and the Republican Party is full of the arm-chair kind.
The people who voted for President Trump had no interest in this fight. They elected Mr. Trump to drain the swamp, not to jump into it & get bogged down. No wonder this bill, the darling of the rich Republican elite, had less than 20% favorability rating.
The last week was almost like de ja vu all over again. We remembered how President Obama bet his presidency on winning the Obamacare battle in 2009. It was a pyrrhic victory. He won but at the cost of draining all his political capital. He never did anything else material in his eight years.
President Trump seemed to be going the same way. Had the House bill passed, the next 2-3 months would have been spent in negotiating with Senate & the House to get a final bill that no one wanted. No one would have had the stamina to then take up Tax Reform after fighting the alligators in that swamp.
But President Trump proved again that he is a favorite of Lady Luck. She smiled on him on Friday and the healthcare bill was pulled. He has emerged from that mess appreciated & admired by all the combatants in the Republican Party. The Freedom Caucus said they had never seen a President who got so involved and worked so hard with them. Speaker Ryan praised him for his yeoman’s service.
Now both sides of the House Republican party have to demonstrate they can work together in the effort to get tax reform, or at least a package of tax cuts. And that is a labor of love for Republicans. As we heard one Congressman say on Friday “God put Republicans on earth to deliver tax cuts”.
So the minefield has been bypassed and now the tank offensive can roll on. That is a good & lucky outcome.
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