“The monstrosity has … begun to be implemented and we’re not giving up the fight”

It’s not so secret. Republicans have been talking about repealing Obamacare since the day it was passed. And the House has been voting on repeal, and the Senate Republicans have been trying to figure out a way to use the reconciliation process.

It’s no secret.

But it is a catchy headline at National Journal, The Secret Republican Plan to Repeal ‘Obamacare’:

In the months that followed [after the Supreme Court upheld the Obamacare mandate as a tax], top GOP Senate aides held regular strategy meetings to plot a path forward. Using the reconciliation process would be complicated and contentious. Senate rules would require Republicans to demonstrate to the parliamentarian that their repeal provisions would affect spending or revenue and Democrats were sure to challenge them every step of the way. So the meetings were small and secret…. By Election Day, Senate Republicans were ready to, as McConnell put it, “take this monstrosity down.” “We were prepared to do that had we had the votes to do it after the election. Well, the election didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to,” McConnell told National Journal in an interview. “The monstrosity has … begun to be implemented and we’re not giving up the fight.” Indeed, when it comes to legislative strategy, McConnell plays long ball. Beginning in 2009, the Republican leader led the push to unify his colleagues against Democrats’ health care plans, an effort that almost derailed Obamacare. In 2010, Republicans, helped in part by public opposition to the law, won back the House and picked up seats in the Senate. Last year, GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s embrace of the individual mandate while Massachusetts governor largely neutralized what had been a potent political issue. But, in the next two years, Republicans are looking to bring the issue back in a big way. And they’ll start by trying to brand the law as one that costs too much and is not working as promised.

That should be the easiest branding job ever, but the media will fight back against it. The National Journal calling it a “secret plan” is part of the counter-narrative, that there’s something tricky or deceptive about actually trying to fulfill a very public policy of repealing the monstrosity known as Obamacare.

I wish we were half as good as secretly scheming as we are made out to be.



