#50 - Seeing the Forest Through the Trees

Can Donald Trump and the Republican leadership actually see the forest through the trees?

At the moment, the answer to this question seems to be “No”.

There is a mad dash to commence discussions on the Senate floor and to begin debating a bill, some bill, as early as today, about…..well, no one appears to be quite sure.  The rumor is it could be about repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), but the bookies aren't taking any bets because they are not sure what they would be betting on.

Is Donald Trump so eager for a win, any win that he keeps ratcheting up the pressure on Senate Republicans to vote for it?  Even as he remains clueless as to what it is?  Even as he has failed to articulate his own ideas on the plan?

And isn't there a realization among good, smart, intelligent Republicans that this is a clear recipe for winning a battle, and losing the war?

According to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released last Thursday, the Affordable Care Act is significantly more popular than the House GOP plan to repeal and replace the law.  

The survey found that 41 percent of Americans say that the ACA is a good idea.  By comparison, just 16 percent said they see the House GOP plan as a good idea - a 7-point drop from the 23 percent approval it had shortly after it was passed in April.  Further, about 48 percent of respondents said that the House health care overhaul was a bad idea, according to the poll. (Source: The Hill).  I am not a politician, so what do I know, but it seems a bit odd that any politician would want to be seen as supporting such an unpopular construct.

[Note - it would be nice if we could get some polls comparing the ACA to the Senate plan, except we still don't know what that is]

As I lean left these days and as I am thoroughly disgusted by Republican actions over the last seven years, where they were a broken record calling the ACA a train wreck, and voting in the House to repeal it countless times, there is a side to me that would like to see them shoot themselves in the head and pass a bill which trails the favorability of the ACA by a margin of more than two to one. But just as a Republican win on a vote, any vote, would only provide a brief moment of euphoria, the same could be said of my sense of satisfaction from seeing these disingenuous men, who are supposed to represent leadership in our country, commit the first step toward their own political suicide.  The moment would not last.

So, no. the answer lies in putting politics aside, but here only Republican leaders can take the first step. as they control the House, the Senate and the Oval Office.  They must put an end to their short sighted motive of fulfilling a seven year promise, which no longer makes sense, and accept the realization that they will help themselves more in the long run if they slow the process down and bring Democrats to the table, so that both parties can share the responsibility and the outcome (good, bad or integer wise) of solving one out countries biggest challenges. 

Everyone has to see the forest through the trees, and that includes me.