The AHCA didn’t fail because of personality or negotiation tactics. It didn’t fail because of institutional factors per se. It failed because of the ideological reality facing the Republican Party – a reality they are largely responsible for constructing.

Harold Pollack for Politico Magazine:

It was bad policy, not poor tactics or negotiating skills, that doomed the GOP’s efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Pollack points out two facts frequently overlooked in the past couple days.

1. The role of loss aversion.

What’s so baffling about Ryan’s failure is that he knows as well as anybody that social entitlements are devilishly hard to take away—because people like them. As the main features of ACA become embedded in American life, overturning it required legislative craftsmanship at the boundary between coalition politics and policy.

2. ACA was ideologically moderate legislation.

Pretending that the rather moderate ACA was in fact radical socialism undermined the party. Yes, it provided the rage fuel “repeal and replace” mantra which helped to deliver the 2010 midterm elections and likely aided Trump’s victory in 2016, but it has also left no daylight for making new policy. Especially in light of (1).

But ACA wasn’t and isn’t even a monument to liberalism. It wasn’t Brarack Obama’s or Nancy Pelosi’s dream healthcare bill. It was more like Ben Nelson’s (D-NE) preferred set of policies.

There can be no face-saving minor revision because the GOP has convinced their base and many politicians staked their reputations on the idea that only wholesale change is acceptable.

Besides, the status quo and the implicit baseline have shifted. Even though ACA is roundly panned, the market for healthcare (and health insurance) wasn’t particularly well-functioning in 2009 when the Democrats decided to poke at it. Contrary to rehtoric, Obamacare has not destroyed the economy. There is no meaningful bloc of voters clamoring to actually set the clocks back to 2009.

Many people across the ideological spectrum want something better. Something better policywise in an area as complex and vital as healthcare just isn’t something that can be ginned-up in less than a month admidst political turmoil and the Trump Administration’s series of constitutional crises. Even without the lies, deception, and insincerity – the vagueness of “repeal and replace” has proven itself hollow. But as long as Republican leadership lie about the ideological realities of ACA and healthcare policy, they will never be able to repeal and replace.

Anyways great essay by Pollack. Read the whole thing.