President Barack Obama signs a letter to a Cuban letter writer, in the Oval Office, March 14, 2016. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.
I’ll use Farmers as an example of the trouble many Americans are facing. The Affordable Care Act worked for many of them. Obamacare, as Republicans named it, wasn’t perfect by any means. For one thing, it didn’t lower the cost of healthcare for enough people. But it did make healthcare available for millions of Americans who didn’t have it before.
Part of the reason is that it made healthcare affordable, or at least as affordable as possible. Farmers have used that as a tool for their workers. Many farms aren’t big enough to have a group plan. So they give a monthly stipend to their employees to buy their own insurance, and it worked. Thousands of those farm workers ended up with healthcare. Which of course, made it more affordable for everyone.
The big questions is, why did Trump tear it up? My belief is that he hated the fact that it was named after Obama. The history Obamacare brought was too much for him to take, even though Trump and his party named it that. They never thought people would use it.
This is just one example of where Trump’s ego has gotten in the way of good public policy. We don’t have to mention that Obama and NATO negotiated a deal with Iran that was working for full access and inspection of any nuclear capabilities. But then, that one had a terrible name attached to it too.
Good riding with you,
Joel
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