Lessons learned from health care bill failure

After the failure to repeal and replace Obamacare, President Trump met the press in the Oval Office. It was an unusual meeting. The President seemed almost mellow. He said: “We learned a lot.”

And the tweet that immediately followed was similarly un-Trumpian. He said the nation should not worry, that in time something better than Obamacare or the failed Obamacare replacement (Ryancare?) would emerge.

So, what was learned? What should be the takeaway for the country, Speaker Paul Ryan, and the President?

A reasonable answer came from our own governor, John Kasich, one week ago. He voiced what many Americans are feeling right now: To get something done, you have to reach across the aisle to the other party. You have to find a consensus on a few points. And you work up from the possible rather than down from the grandiose.

What would that mean in reforming and repairing Obamacare?

Well, first get off the repeal kick and stop running against Barack Obama.

That might be hard for this President, but it is the first necessary step toward a working relationship with some Democrats. Liz Warren and Bernie Sanders are never going to work with the Trump Administration. But Democrats in swing states will— if the offer is good politics for them...

Read the full editorial from the Toledo Blade at bit. ly/2ot8x37