Obama and the Democrats passed Obamacare without any Republican votes on a slick parliamentary move by Harry Reid.  Republicans vowed to repeal Obamacare.  Next, Obamacare was saved by the vote of Justice Roberts when he decided that it is constitutional as a tax even though Obama and the Dems did not pass it as a tax.  Republicans again vowed to repeal Obamacare.

Republicans said Obamacare is designed to fail so we end up with a single-payer system.  The passage of Obamacare energized the Republican base, leading to a Tea Party, and a revival of conservative politics.   We won the House in 2010 and have retained it since.  We won the Senate in 2012 and have retained it since.

Republicans ran on the promise to repeal Obamacare, which resulted in a Republican Congress.  During the Obama administration, the Republicans passed numerous bills to repeal Obamacare.  They did not become law because Obama was president, who had veto power.

Donald Trump won in 2016.  He ran on a platform to sign a bill to repeal Obamacare.  Now we have a Republican House and Senate and a Republican president.  All that is necessary is a simple bill to repeal Obamacare, which President Trump would  sign.  Send the same bill that was passed and sent to Obama.

Instead, we became bogged into a "repeal and replace" to craft a bill to replace Obamacare.  The House had difficulty in passing a bill.  Now the Senate is having difficulty in passing a bill.  The Republican leadership has had since Trump's election but is still fumbling around to put together a bill acceptable to 52 Republican senators.

The problem is that any bill will be a version of Obamacare because the Republicans are trying to legislate a comprehensive health care bill to satisfy all interests, from Rand Paul, who wants a repeal, to Susan Collins, who wants Obamacare Lite.  Some are pushing to expand Medicare so that it becomes the default for the uninsured.

Democrats will oppose any Republican bill.  The bottom line is that many Republicans want to pass a more efficient and fair Obamacare plan rather than simply repeal Obamacare.

We do not need a comprehensive health care bill, same as we did not need a "Comprehensive Immigration Bill" that McCain, Graham, and Bush tried to sell in in 2007.

The Republicans should pass a simple repeal of Obamacare.  If they have to get rid of cloture, then do it, just as Harry Reid used his moves.

Then Republicans should pass specific bills to deal with specific issues, such as waiting periods for pre-existing conditions, portability of insurance from employer to employer, using HSA to pay for premiums, increasing the amount for HSA,  allowing consumers to choose coverage, selling policies across state lines, allowing income tax deduction for all medical bills from gross income, using VA hospitals to treat the uninsured and those with pre-existing conditions that have not yet met the time limits, and other issues.

There should be debate on each of these where Democrats are forced to vote on specific bills, instead of just allowing the Dems to vote no on one bill so they can say they are trying to save health care for all.

The repeal of Obamacare highlights the weakness and ineffectiveness of Congress.  We still have reduction of income tax rates and simplification of the tax code, confirmation of federal judges and another Supreme Court justice, and funding for the wall.  The only achievement so far by Congress is Neal Gorsuch on the Supreme Court.

Worse, the congressional Republicans do not support Trump by defending him against the daily onslaught by the Opposition Party, consisting of the Democrats and the Destroy Trump Media.  It seems that Never-Trump senators, such as McCain, Collins, Graham, Sasse, Lee, Toomey, and others are willing to see Trump destroyed.

But if Obamacare is not repealed, and there is no tax cut, no funding of the wall, and Trump is not supported, the Democrats will take the House in 2018.

Republicans had better wake up and remember why they were elected.