The Rubber Meets the Road...to the Sound of Squealing Tires

I've got a new piece up at Shareblue about how the Republicans are getting a case of the jitters about repealing Obamacare now that they actually have a chance to do it.

By February of 2016, Congressional Republicans had tried — unsuccessfully — to repeal the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) more than 60 times. Despite the fact that more than 20 million people are now covered under the ACA's provisions, Republicans have repeatedly deemed it a failure that needs to be dismantled.

But that was then. A time when Republicans could get a lot of mileage out of attacking a healthcare access expansion without worry their attempts to overturn it would pass. Now, there is a president-elect who is unlikely to veto a repeal.

...It is not just a theoretical proposal discussed by grandstanders in the abstract anymore. Now it is a real possibility, with real people who will lose their healthcare coverage with a repeal — and whose lives may hang in the balance as a result.

As they say: Be careful what you wish for. Republicans now face the prospect of getting what they have long claimed to want — the chance to repeal Obamacare. But if they do it, they will face the wrath of voters who value their health insurance made possible by Obamacare. And if they do not do it, they will face valid accusations of breaking promises they have been making for six years.

Buyers' remorse over the election of Trump might come sooner than expected. And in, of all places, the Republican Congressional caucus.

More at the link, as ever.

It's all fun and games pretending to have principles until actual votes are at stake.