My Republican friends dislike being reminded that ObamaCare was originally from the Heritage House think tank and fully embraced by Republicans for decades. It was not until Hilary Clinton moved away from single payer and toward Bob Dole’s health care plan and ran her 2008 presidential campaign that Republicans went on the attack for the very policies they embraced for decades.
Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas brilliantly dissect the Republican war on health care that the Republican strategists developed. The opinion piece embraces Newt Gingrich’s explanation that Republicans do not have an alternative.
Republicans quickly convinced themselves they had always been at war with Oceania — excuse me, the individual mandate. But plausible health care plans are hard to come by. Even the plans that weren’t exactly like Obamacare were too similar to Obamacare for comfort. And so, five years later, even leading Republicans haven’t really come by another one.