August 31, 2016
Thomas Friedman once again urged both major parties to compromise to get things done in his NYT column. He argues that compromise is the only way to get things done. To make his case he lists a number of issues where he argues compromise is necessary, leading with:
“How will we improve Obamacare?”
Friedman probably missed it (hard to get information about Washington politics at The New York Times), but the Republicans have made repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) a sacred cause. They routinely demand the destruction of the ACA in their campaigns. They voted dozens of times to repeal the ACA and have celebrated any bad news that could be associated with the program. This is in addition to all the phony stories about the ACA killing jobs and forcing employers to switch to part-time workers that the Republicans have invented.
In this context, at this point doing anything to further Obamacare would amount to complete surrender on core Republican principles, not a compromise. But you would have to know something about Washington politics to be aware of this fact.
Comments