The game of politics is no easy feat to master. Political tides change like the wind, making running for re-election a nightmare for some unlucky souls. When the political conscience of the American people has turned away from positions you support, it makes winning an election an uphill battle.
Many Republicans running for re-election find themselves in a similar dilemma. After years of saying they want to completely repeal Obamacare and return to privatized health insurance, a lot of moderate Republicans are starting to change their tune.
Many are now saying that although they are against the healthcare law, they are also opposed to completely repealing it. This is an extreme departure for many in the Republican establishment, including Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who have repeatedly said that it is hurting the American middle class and needs to be repealed.
Republican Representative of Illinois Bob Dold is one of the moderates opposing the complete repeal of Obamacare. He said:
“Unless there is a bipartisan solution to fix the law, I don’t think we should be taking symbolic votes to repeal it.”
Bob Dold is in a highly contested upcoming election and is hoping that his more moderate approach to the healthcare debate will result in him being re-elected to Congress.
His approach, and those of other moderate Republicans seeking re-election, is a long-time in the making. The focus of the American people has largely turned toward economic and national security issues.
Donald Trump spends his time talking about fair-trade agreements and crime threats whenever he gets in front of an audience. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton does the same. Healthcare is a hot button issue neither candidate seems to want to elaborate on at the moment.
Republicans also have to deal with the fact that, according to data by the federal government, over 20 million people now have health care coverage thanks to Obamacare. Many of these people are now reaping the benefits of this law, thanks to insurance effects and subsidies that went into place in 2014.
It would be impractical to repeal a law that gives 20 million people health insurance, and many Republicans are now starting to reckon with this fact.
Republican Representative John Katko is one of those people. He is in a highly contested race in upstate New York that Democrats are keen on turning in their favor. He said:
“When I ran, I said I’m not going to vote for repeal of Obamacare unless there is a replacement or repeal and replace. There wasn’t [a replacement] and I’m not going to beat my head.”
Katko’s moderate views about Obamacare are starting to seep into the Republican mindset about this controversial topic. They are starting to realize one sobering fact about President Obama’s healthcare legislation:
It is working.
It is hard to argue when facts show that over 20 million people have health insurance thanks to President Obama’s work. Republicans are having to deal with the cold-hard truth that a Democratic piece of legislation is having a positive effect on a large part of the American populous.
No amount of Fox News reporting can take away from people seeing that their neighbor has proper health care for the first time.
With the American people’s burning desire for transparency from their politicians, it’s time that Republicans take a step forward and recognize that there are other options than a straight repeal of Obamacare.
Maybe they could even work with Democrats to improve it. Now that’s a truly radical thought.
Here is a video of Republican Representative Herb Richardson admitting that Obamacare saved him:
Featured image was cropped from the portrait of Rep. Bob Dold (R-Ill) from his official website.
