Is ‘Obamacare’ repeal dead – or a legislative zombie?

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump’s plan to kill “Obamacare” died last week. Or maybe it didn’t.

The repeal effort seems to have assumed zombie status – somewhere between dead and alive.

This is never-say-die Washington, where big legislative proposals that are in the casket one day can show signs of a pulse and start climbing out the next.

It’s a fairly common condition in the capital, where politicians who invest enormous political capital in a proposal are loath to let go.

“One of the keys to understanding Washington is to think a little bit like a coroner,” says consultant Ari Fleischer, former press secretary to President George W. Bush. “You have to know when something’s dead and when something’s still kicking, and sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference.”

To say that Trump and Republican congressional leaders are sending mixed signals about the viability of the repeal effort is an understatement.

Last week, when it became clear that House Republicans didn’t have enough votes to pass the health-care repeal bill, the White House said Trump had given it his all, left everything on the field, and was ready to move on.

Next up: taxes, the president said, without blinking.

His son Eric channeled Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler” in praising his father for knowing when to walk away.

“Guess what? We’re moving on,” the president’s son told Fox News on Tuesday. “The best business people know ... when to hold their cards, know when to fold the cards.”

That same night, though, the president told a bipartisan gathering of senators, “We’re all going to make a deal on health care. That’s such an easy one.”

Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said Wednesday the president had just been engaging in light-hearted banter.

But it was no laughing matter to plenty of Republicans on Capitol Hill, where conservatives elected on a promise to scrap the law continue to insist that reports of the repeal effort’s death are premature.

“We don’t quit,” said freshman Rep. Brian Mast, a Florida Republican who lost both legs after being wounded in Afghanistan. “That’s how we do things on the battlefield; that’s how things should be done here.”

On Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan added to the cacophony of conflicting statements when he told CBS that it’s time for Plan B, where “we keep talking to each other and figure out how we get to ‘yes.”’

For all of that, there is little evidence that leaders are working on a concrete plan to revive the repeal effort.

Why not admit that?

It could be the emotional attachment to a long-held goal. Or a matter of self- interest.