That’s how James Antle of the Washington Examiner describes the latest developments in the health care reform debate.
Every GOP senator except one either voted for repeal in the past or campaigned on it in a recent election cycle. Their leader was said to have a “secret plan” to repeal Obamacare “root and branch.”
There was ample time for a contingency plan or even a better approach to replacing the healthcare law.
No amount of time ever seems to be enough. Not 1 inch of ground gained by liberalism is ever ceded without a fight. Republicans can campaign against those gains. They can now tweet about them. But when it comes to action, Republicans can seldom do more than nibble around the edges. The slightest retrenchment of a healthcare law that did not even exist a decade ago is portrayed as a mass casualty event.
Perhaps the most enduring conservative domestic policy gain is keeping marginal tax rates below 40 percent for the past 30 years. (Oops!)
After Mitt Romney, Republicans were supposed to have learned how to do healthcare policy. After the Tea Party, they were supposed to have become more serious about contesting big-government liberalism. After Trump, they were supposed to have learned how to fight Democrats and the media.
The score as of Thursday morning: 0 for 3.
