Loving Obamacare, Necessarily

PRESIDENT TRUMP has made it, in the words of Richard Nixon, "perfectly clear". He will not own Obamacare. In the aftermath of the failed republican attempt to repeal and replace, President Trump will not be blamed for whatever happens from now on. He will merely let Obamacare fail, as, according to the conservative scenario, it ultimately must, and wait for the democrats to come crawling to him, asking for help, willing to cooperate. At least, that's what the president says he thinks is going to happen. Whether it does is another matter. At this point look for Trump to do everything in his power to destroy Obamacare by starving it of funds, and so forth. Trump wants to become a self fulfilling prophet, letting Obamacare fail, by making it fail. There are problems with this approach, obviously. First, Obamacare is not failing. In fact, according to the expert analysts, it is strengthening, after a rocky start seven years ago. Then too, with each passing day Obamacare becomes more deeply insinuated within the American economic and health care system, like Social Security, medicare, and Medicaid, each of which got off to a far rockier start, way back when, than O care. A comfortable majority of Americans indicate on surveys that the federal government should provide universal health care. The Affordable Care Act is popular, but when its called "Obamacare", which is the dame thing, it loses popularity. Americans. Go figure. Then too, many many Trump supporters are out of work coal miners, blue collar folks, folks who even now are relying heavily on those damned socialized government programs, such as the Medicaid program which Trump wants to cut in half with the stroke of a pen. Also, in the unlikely chance that Trump and the republicans are able to clandestinely kill Obamacare, they will not have the luxury of determining whether they "own" its demise. We the American people will be in charge of that. At this point Trump and the republicans have only one reasonable choice; they must work with democrats to repair Obamacare, leave it in place, support it, love it, and live with it, or risk being run out of Washington.