Byron York: 14 lessons from the GOP Obamacare debacle
1) Don’t over-promise
2) Jobs, jobs, jobs: Trump won the presidency on a pledge to create more and better-paying jobs. Taking up Obamacare as the first legislative project of his presidency was not consistent with that pledge
3) Find more votes.
4) Start with giveaways .. an infrastructure bill first, the story from Capitol Hill would have been a president and Congress giving things to the American people
5) ‘The Art of the Deal’ doesn’t work with ideologically-driven politicians
If the president wants to succeed in Washington, he’ll have to learn how to deal with people who aren’t in it just for the money.
6) Trump made a “rookie’s error” in bringing the Obamacare measure to a finale too quickly.
7) Trump and the House Republicans have different priorities and agendas.
8) John Boehner was right about the House Freedom Caucus. In an appearance last month, the former Speaker laughed at the notion that Republicans could agree on an Obamacare replacement.
9) Keep it simple. : It all got way too complicated to benefit from Trump’s talents as a simplifier and a salesman.
10) For years, House Republicans were able to pass bills like repealing Obamacare with the assurance that they didn’t really mean anything .. “We were a 10-year opposition party where being against things was the easy thing to do,” the Speaker said.
11) On big-ticket items, the president leads Congress, not the other way around.
12) while there is still intense opposition to the healthcare law inside the GOP, it has not stayed at that 2009-2010 level. In retrospect, Republicans were maddest at Obamacare before it actually went into effect
13) CBO estimates matter.