Stop Playing Defense on Obamacare, Republicans!

If you didn’t know better, you’d think it was the Republican Party that dreamed up the Affordable Care Act back in 2010. After all, as the country watches this abomination of a healthcare law implode on itself, it seems to be the GOP taking the brunt of the backlash. And instead of standing their ground and fighting back, too many Republicans on Capitol Hill seem to be thinking about retreat. We’ve even begun to hear the first tentative whisperings of a “repair” bill instead of the repeal-and-replace America was promised in the election.

Obamacare is doomed. That’s the message the Republicans need to hammer – day in, day out – until there is a repeal bill on the floor. Do not let the Democrats get away from this. Do not kick this can down the road so far that your party becomes synonymous with the death spirals currently hitting the health insurance marketplace. The longer you let this law decay, the easier it will be for the Democrat-Media alliance to take you down with the ship.

President Trump was not vague about this on the campaign trail. He promised full repeal. He promised a full replacement. And of all the things he proposed last year, this was one of the least controversial from a conservative standpoint. The Republican Party has been focused on Obamacare for six years now. There’s absolutely no reason for the confusion we’re currently seeing inside the party establishment.

Is this the party of the free market or isn’t it? Well, then it’s time to start acting like it. It’s time to stop pretending that America can’t live without a healthcare law comparable to Obamacare. There are common-sense, conservative solutions that have been bandied about for years. Pick one of them, and let’s get to it!

Republicans are afraid. They don’t want to come up with a shoddy plan and then be hit with a political backlash when the media twists it to suit their agenda. Well, guess what? That’s going to happen, no matter what. Unless the GOP wants to join up with Bernie Sanders and pass universal health coverage, they are going to get savagely criticized for whatever comes down the pike. So what? Don’t try to escape the inevitable. Take your message to the people, get all the facts straight, and do what you know is right. Do what’s best for the country – not what’s best for your reputation in the Washington Post.