Republicare...?

First, let’s just get past a few things, shall we?

One: It’s undeniable that President Obama didn’t know what he was talking about when he promised “You can keep your doctor” and “You can keep your [health insurance] plan.”It’s simply not true. The mainstream media would call this “lying” if he were a Republican. Since they’re unwilling to do it, I’ll do it for them. He lied. Or he’s clueless. Maybe both.

Two: Obamacare is indeed hurting jobs growth in this country. Three to twelve months before the employer mandate is set to go into effect, part-time jobs surge, full-time jobs recede. That the employer mandate has not yet kicked in for real and for good is the only reason why economists’ and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius’ statements about the overall long-term trends have been technically correct. That is to say that when the employer mandate kicks in for real, Obamacare will most certainly brutalize the full-time job numbers. While the White House can certainly be forgiven for tap dancing around this issue, economists should know better.

Three: Obamacare does not address either of the real problems of healthcare. What are the real problems? Rising costs and dwindling supply. In spite of its formal title to the contrary (the “Affordable Care Act”), Obamacare is trying to solve the problem by ensuring that everybody has access to affordable health insurance, not “care”. Obamacare is prescribing exactly as the mythical doctor ordered, namely “Take two aspirin and call me in the morning,” instead of healing the patient who has a gaping head wound.

So while the GOP is doing a pitiful job of defunding legislation which is (as liberals are quick to point out) House, Senate, White House, and Supreme Court approved, they are doing about the crappiest job of offering alternatives which the American people might want to see instead.

I mean, just think about it! What if the GOP said, “Obamacare sucks, and here’s why: it only perpetuates the broken insurance model of healthcare by making it more broken and complicated, and it doesn’t address the real problems we have today: not enough doctors, and uncontrollable costs. And here’s our plan, which will work.” Do you think the American people might step back and say, “Gee, they’re not being obstructionist. They might actually be thinking about us!”

Well, they might. But right now, I’m thinking the answer is, They’ll never have the chance. Until the GOP stops whining and starts offering solutions, they (we) are going to be perceived as obstructionist asshats, and rightly so.

Pause while I write a bunch of stuff about what I’d do if I were the GOP. And then, as I’m researching a key point of my suggestions, I discovered something which made me erase all of what I’d written… because the Republicans have an alternate plan!

Strangely, it addresses most, if not all, of the points I had already written. Here is the “pocket card” (i.e., talking points) for