To the Editor:
It’s the height of hypocrisy for the House majority leader, Kevin McCarthy, to complain of Democrats “playing politics” with Obamacare and to call for good-faith negotiation. Republicans had the opportunity for this discussion in 2009 when President Obama articulated his openness to any proposal that expanded coverage without adding to the debt. They could readily have obtained many of the adjustments they now propose had they been willing to engage at that time. Instead they opted for calculated party-line opposition focused entirely on handing the president a political defeat, and outrageous anti-Obamacare hyperbole has poisoned the discussion in the years since.
By all means let’s stop playing politics, but this means abandoning the overheated and vacuous repeal rhetoric and engaging in good-faith discussion on possible adjustments to the existing framework, not playing chicken with the coverage for millions of people.
STEVE LEOVY
Boulder, Colo.
Note from KBJ: This is risible. Republicans didn't manipulate people into opposing ObamaCare. The people who were subjected to ObamaCare saw how awful it was and elected Republicans to repeal it. ObamaCare was based on lies ("It's not a tax"; "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor"; "Premiums will go down $2,500") and rammed down Americans' throats. Republicans had nothing to do with it and are not responsible for it.
