Cruz: GOP will be "laughing stock" if ObamaCare repeal fails https://t.co/kCyVvpJK1t pic.twitter.com/4BFLJJL7O9
— The Hill (@thehill) March 15, 2017
2. The AMA, doctors & nurses orgs, AARP, hospitals & others oppose Obamacare repeal in large part because they're stakeholders in it…
— Al Giordano (@AlGiordano) March 15, 2017
3. Paradoxically, the inclusion of institutional stakeholders is what caused some who identify as "on the left" to oppose Obamacare in 2009.
— Al Giordano (@AlGiordano) March 15, 2017
8. The sad truth is that had "Obamacare" been "single payer" the *easiest* thing for the GOP right now would be to dismantle it…
— Al Giordano (@AlGiordano) March 15, 2017
22. So, #ThanksObama for designing health care in a way that anticipated attacks upon it. That's what organizing does! End memo.
— Al Giordano (@AlGiordano) March 15, 2017
Professor Krugman, “Populism and the Politics of Health”:
…[W]hy are Republicans having so much trouble? Health reform is hard; but why were the Dems able to pass the ACA in the first place? I’m seeing a lot of talk about Paul Ryan’s inadequacy and Republican lack of preparation as compared with Pelosi and the Dems in 2009, all of which is true. But there’s a more fundamental issue: who is being served?
Obamacare helped a large number of people at the expense of a small, affluent minority: basically, taxes on 2% of the population to cover a lot of people and assure coverage to many more. Trumpcare would reverse that, hurting a lot of people (many of whom voted Trump) so as to cut taxes for a handful of wealthy people. That’s a difference that goes beyond political strategy…
And yet, and yet: Trump did in fact win over white working-class voters, who thought they were voting for a populist; Democrats, who did a lot for those voters, got no credit — rural whites, in particular, who were huge beneficiaries of the ACA, overwhelmingly supported the man who may destroy their healthcare.
The answer, presumably, is that what we call populism is really in large degree white identity politics, which can’t be addressed by promising universal benefits. Among other things, these “populist” voters now live in a media bubble, getting their news from sources that play to their identity-politics desires, which means that even if you offer them a better deal, they won’t hear about it or believe it if told. For sure many if not most of those who gained health coverage thanks to Obamacare have no idea that’s what happened.
That said, taking the benefits away would probably get their attention, and maybe even open their eyes to the extent to which they are suffering to provide tax cuts to the rich…
This, btw, is why many ideological conservatives opposed Trump early. Feared he'd shred party's small-government ethos, & they were right.
— Alex Burns (@alexburnsNYT) March 15, 2017
That ethos was shredded long ago, when the lower end of the GOP's base became dependent on welfare programs. https://t.co/XpzhCJw5xh
— Milena Rodban (@MilenaRodban) March 15, 2017
Open Thread: It Only <em>Looked</em> EasyPost + Comments (114)