The bomb which keeps ticking...

"Here is the irony. When Obama was President, the Republicans were free to criticize this mess from dawn till dusk. After all, the Democrats owned it lock, stock and barrel." 

He really did it to us. Some think it is a Trojan Horse. I think it is a ticking bomb. Now we have taken control of that bomb and don't know how to defuse it. What am I talking about? This thing, this destroyer of economies, this socialized program called known as ObamaCare.

It seems like every morning on the news there is yet another story about a Republican hosting a town hall meeting. And many of them are not turning out to be pleasant. In fact, some are out and out nasty. The demonstrators seemed to have recently switched the subject line. Not too long ago, they were demanding that an outside, independent council be brought in to "get to the bottom of the Russia/Trump issue". Now it is all about ObamaCare.

Here is the irony. When Obama was President, the Republicans were free to criticize this mess from dawn till dusk. After all, the Democrats owned it lock, stock and barrel. Nary a Republican anywhere had laid a finger on this thing as it was being hatched. Then the wheels started to come off. People could not keep their doctors. They could not keep their insurance providers. Premiums started to go up like Roman candles. It was disintegrating right before our very eyes. Then the November 2016 election happened. All of a sudden, the Republicans got stuck with this Rosemary's Baby.

Flash forward to now. The Republicans are out of session and going back home to meet and greet the voters. They are being met by some legitimate, and some illegitimate (that be outside, paid agitator type) voters. They are coming to the meetings to yell, chant, argue, carry signs, blah, blah, blah. I find it interesting they did not show up at town hall meetings when Obama was President. ObamaCare is after all, Obama's offspring.

Now President Trump and the Republican led Congress are stuck in a quagmire. As Colin Powell would say - "You break it, you own it." Despite all the years of preparing for this moment, my single biggest fear is this - all this talk about "repeal and replace" might have been just that - talk. If we repeal this mess without having a much better mousetrap in the ready mode, the "lap dog" media as well as the Democrats will club us to death with it. And then we can probably kiss the 2018 midterms goodbye.

Was Obama dumb like a fox in 2009 when he signed this mess into law? Did he look out over the chessboard and plan about three or four moves ahead? As much as I appreciate President Trump's ambitious schedule of doing everything the first year, the ObamaCare replacement is probably the most critical item as well as the most tricky.

I wish we had someone on our side of the fence who also could have seen three or four moves ahead. That person might have seen this entire mess develop and be able to warn the rest of us. As Admiral Ackbar said in Star Wars, that person should have yelled at the top of his lungs, "Its a trap!"

And now that we are in the trap, the secret will be in how to get out of this trap without further destroying our healthcare system, the Republican Party, and the trust of the American people. Ouch.