Win the Battle and Lose the War!

Once again Republicans showed how not to lead by failing to do what they said they would do.

They spent the last 7 years proclaiming that if the voters vote them into power, they would “repeal and replace” Obamacare. So, when given the chance by controlling the House, the Senate, and the Presidency, they failed big time.

Contrary to how the Democrats operated in passing Obamacare by voting for the bill even though they had reservations about it, the Republicans blew it. Yes, the Democrat leadership used bribery and arm-twisting, but in the end, the Democrats walked in lock step to pass the monstrosity called Obamacare. Not so with the Republicans, some being so much the ideologues, they couldn't accommodate each other to come to a consensus to pass a “repeal and replace” bill.

It is an honorable trait to have principles and to stick with them, but sometimes in order to get what you want you might have to swallow things you don't like now in order to get what you want later on.

I was a supporter of the Tea Party movement, but some of its adherents are “ideological purists” who say it's my way or the highway. No compromise, no giving up one inch of their principles for the greater good seems to be their modus operandi. It seems that the Republicans are their own worse enemies, again.

The recent failure of the bill getting rid of the disaster called Obamacare, is a perfect example. Whether or not the bill that failed was good or bad, it was a start considering that the Democrats would not go along with anything proposed by the Republicans. The rules of the Washington political establishment make proposing new legislation a difficult task to accomplish. When our leaders, in crafting legislation, have to contend with these archaic rules, it sometimes causes the instituting of reform very difficult to achieve.

President Trump tried his skill of negotiating to help pass the bill, but he couldn't overcome the rabid ideologues in his own party who wanted a bill that incorporated 100% of their ideas.

Maybe, on second thought, it might just be a blessing in disguise for the Republicans, as of now the impending implosion of Obamacare is now fully owned by the Democrats. They would have to answer to the voters (especially the the middle-class who are getting killed by enormous premiums and outrageous deductibles) that all the hoopla that they could keep their doctor, their health care plan, and that they would save $2,500 for a family of 4, were all lies and that their gloating over the Republican defeat of their proposed bill to repeal and replace, is like sticking their finger in the eye of the vast majority of the over-burdened middle-class people who are being hurt by this stupid health care bill called Obamacare.

Yes, the anti-American Health Care cadre who opposed the bill won the battle, but in the process they lost the war. You could say that the Republicans are their own worst enemy. Let's hope they can gather their thoughts and work together on getting the rest of the Trump agenda passed for the benefit of the country.

Conservative commentary by Chuck Lehmann