Excuse Me?  GOP  to Blame  for Obamacare's Unpopularity and  Rocky Implementation?

Someone will probably be blamed for ObamaCare if and when it fails; it won’t be those who said it would never work.

Tevi Troy,   “The Obamacare Blame Game, “ Commentary,  June, 2013

I savor catchy headlines.  Jonah Goldberg’s headline title in the August 6 USA Today is a good example:   “Excuse Me?   GOP to Blame for Obamacare?”

Goldberg explains. The GOP should not be held  responsible for Obamacare rocky implementation.

The GOP did not write the law.  It did not vote for it.  It did not support it. It was and is not in charge of implementing it. It was and is not responsible for its unpopularity.    The unpopularity was there from the start, and it has not grown more popular as people have found what is in it.

The GOP was not responsible for poisoning the political well by passing  a hastily prepared, poorly thought-through, and clumsily executed national bill effecting every American without a single vote from the opposing party, the first time in our history that has happened in our checks and balances constitutional system.

The GOP was not responsible for underestimating and disguising the health law’s high costs and adverse consequences.

The GOP is not responsible for the explosion of health care premiums in multiple states.  Health plans are.  They are responsible staying in business by compensating for  increased expenses due to Obamacare.  Health plans are responsible  to their shareholders.

The GOP is not responsible for the lack of computer systems readiness to process applicants who sign up for health exchanges.  HHS is responsible. It had 3 ½ years to prepare.

The GOP is not responsible for delaying the employer mandate.    Small growing businesses who objected to the law and said so loudly  and  who delayed hiring and  reduced fulltime workers to part-time status,  are responsible.  .  They said they could not  afford to pay a $2000 penalty for each employee hired when the 50 worker Obamacare limit was exceeded.   

The GOP is not responsible when part-time workers cannot afford to  pay for increased premiums.  That is a byproduct of a stagnant economy.

The GOP is not responsible for the Supreme Court decision allowing states to opt out of Medicaid expansion.  The Supreme Court made that decision.

The GOP is not responsible for issuing thousands of waivers to Obamacare supporters, who you would think would embrace the law of its President and its party.

The GOP is not responsible for the objections of  unions, including government unions, who do not like the law and who say the ACA will undermine the very reasons for their existence – better full-time jobs with better health benefits.

But, of course, the GOP is responsible for voting 40 times to repeal, defund or cripple an unpopular bill.  By doing so, they are reflecting the sentiments of the najority of the American people.  That is not "blind obstruction." It is the  GOP's proper role in a two party system.

President Obama should  candidly take some  responsibility for the law’s flaws and  its failures to live up to its promises.  Admitting and correcting its faults would be a good first step.    Delay of the Employer Mandate is a good step.   Sitting down with Republicans instead of blaming them for  opposing a bill that more than half or Americans oppose would be another step.   

Health reform is needed, but reform should be incremental. It will not be  accomplished through an irreversible government overhaul and a government that blames its failures on the GOP.  As Shakespeare said, “And oftentimes excusing of a fault, Doth make the fault words by the excuse.”

Tweet:  Blaming the GOP for Obamacare’s flaws for  a law it did write, support, or implement  is not a constructive  way to correct its faults