OPINION | GOP’s 7-year ObamaCare blood oath ends in failure

The Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act have ended in a resounding failure last night and today. The American people should be gleeful that we have dodged a bullet — for now — that would have made us sicker and poorer as a country.

But this should not have been a surprise to anybody. The fact that repealing and replacing ObamaCare would be difficult was an understatement to begin with.

{mosads}The fact that Republicans went for it in the manner that they did and that Trump played a supporting role for a plan that would break some of his fundamental campaign promises — to not touch Medicaid and to cover all Americans — speaks to the very heart of the problem in our nation’s capital. The Republicans in Congress and President Trump are clueless when it comes to leading, hopeless when it comes to governing and in dire need of a strong moral compass with a true north that points to the best interest of the American people.

They are in over their heads, completely unprepared and wholly unfit to hold a majority in Congress or to occupy the Oval Office.

For seven years, Republicans have been railing against ObamaCare. While President Obama was in office, they passed a repeal bill in the House more than 60 times, knowing full well it would never get signed into law.

But instead of spending that time trying to seriously come up with an alternative that would work, they spent their political capital howling at the moon, promising to make Obama a one-term president (I am talking to you Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) ), raging against anything President Obama did and spending millions of taxpayer dollars on an unnecessary Benghazi investigation that ended in a thud. Talk about nothing burgers.

So they have no one to blame but themselves as they experience the spectacular failure of trying to fulfill a 7-year-old blood oath. Now, they actually have the White House, both chambers of Congress and the eyes of the world fixed on them to see if they have what it takes to lead.

They have proven so far that they do not.

They should have listened to their own former Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio), who, when free from the speakership, finally spoke truth and proclaimed that full repeal and replace of ObamaCare is “not what’s going to happen.” He admitted that what would ultimately happen is that Republicans would end up fixing the pieces of ObamaCare that aren’t working that well.

Yes! Let’s do that Republicans and Donald Trump! Democrats will work side-by-side with you on this for the good of the American people!

Alas, it is Donald Trump we are talking about.

He does not do anything “for the good of the American people.” He does everything for the advancement of Donald Trump. In the face of a second defeat of the GOP healthcare bill and having just heard that repeal alone of ObamaCare is not something Republicans will agree on, he just called on Republicans to “just let ObamaCare fail.”

Think about this for a minute. The president of the United States wants to hurt millions of Americans, sentencing many to their deaths, just to spite the sensible Republicans who refused to let their constituents die by supporting any version of the immoral GOP healthcare bill and to spite Democrats who, from the beginning, have refused to repeal the Affordable Care Act that has given healthcare to more than 22 million Americans.

What a leader!

How about this Mr. President? You stop doing everything in your power to sabotage ObamaCare, which you have done from the moment you entered the Oval Office. Stop refusing to advertise enrollment on the exchanges. Stop refusing to enforce the individual mandate, which is what will help make the exchanges solvent and viable for years to come. Stop threatening to withhold the subsidies to health insurance companies they were promised under ObamaCare in order to cover low-income Americans at lower rates.

All of the above actions have injected a poisonous brew of uncertainty into the marketplace that has led to insurers withdrawing from markets, leaving the exchanges and hiking up their premiums.

But don’t take my word for it, just listen to insurance company CEOs and state insurance commissioners, many of whom are Republican. They have complained loudly and on-the-record that the Trump administration has caused the kind of uncertainty in the markets that has forced them to retreat from certain markets and raise prices.

This is NOT ObamaCare imploding or collapsing on its own weight. It is Trump and Republicans killing it softly and behind the scenes and then cleaning the crime scene with bleach and screaming that ObamaCare is dying of its own failures.

Ironically, in spite of Republicans doing everything they can to kill ObamaCare (since they can’t do it legislatively), it seems the healthcare exchanges are actually stabilizing and people are continuing to sign up for the program.

So how about this, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and McConnell — act like leaders! Take Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) at his word and start working with Democrats to fix the Affordable Care Act and give the American people what they deserve — public servants who actually serve the public and not just their own self-interest or that of their party.

This is not a partisan issue. It is an issue of humanity. It is an issue of morality. It is time for the Republican leadership and the White House to prove they have some semblance of both — even if just a smidgen — running through their blood.

Maria Cardona is a principal at the Dewey Square Group, a Democratic strategist and a CNN/CNN Español political commentator. Follow her on Twitter @MariaTCardona.

The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.