There is a quote from the brilliant Broadway musical “Hamilton: An American Story” that seems particularly relevant these days — “Winning was easy … governing’s harder.”
Setting aside for a moment questions about whether the American Health Care Act is a bill worthy of support (it isn’t) and whether it would improve health care in this country (it wouldn’t), one of the most stunning aspects of the political wrangling is the poor performance of President Donald Trump in support of the legislation. Trump learned the hard way that governing is difficult; for the benefit of the nation, we hope it is a lesson he takes to heart.
On March 6, House Speaker Paul Ryan unveiled the framework for a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, a law colloquially known as Obamacare. Throughout last year’s campaign, Trump frequently declared his desire to repeal Obamacare on his first day in office, but Republican leaders were slow to devise legislation despite spending nearly seven years decrying the law.
The Republican blueprint quickly met opposition when the Congressional Budget Office projected that it would result in 24 million fewer Americans having health insurance a decade from now when compared with the current law. One selling point for the proposal was that it would reduce the federal deficit by more than $300 million over the course of a decade. That presented a problem for Trump and Congressional leaders: Moderate Republicans (including Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas) opposed the bill because of cuts in coverage; conservative Republicans opposed it because it did not trim the deficit enough.
The American Health Care Act was officially introduced last Monday; by Friday, it was withdrawn as it became clear that support was lacking. And through what was an extraordinary political week in Washington, D.C., Trump’s negotiating acumen and deal-making skills — which he frequently trumpeted as an attribute — were not in evidence.
After several days of arm-twisting by supporters failed to budge the critics, Trump on Thursday issued an ultimatum: Pass the bill or live with Obamacare. It was a poor calculation on his part and one that rang hollow. Nobody believes Trump will decline to sign a bill if Republicans come back, say, next year with health care legislation that can get through Congress. And nobody believes that Republicans are finished with trying to repeal Obamacare.
Meanwhile, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters that the president “left everything on the field” and that “at some point you can only do so much.” These assertions are indications that Trump has little understanding of how to build coalitions and the need for compromise in creating complex legislation. Postmortems have indicated that Trump had little interest in the details of the bill or the intricacies of health care and believed that he could get the bill passed simply by throwing his support behind it.
It was an expensive lesson in governing that has cost Trump much of his political capital, and the aftermath has demonstrated that his art of the deal often involves little more than trying to assign blame when a deal falls through. He has pointed fingers at Democrats, at the conservative Freedom Caucus and at Ryan — all while ignoring the fact that legislating is more complex than building a golf course.
In the end, the lesson is that getting elected by making outlandish promises can be easy, but governing is harder. Let us hope that is a lesson that sinks in.
