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Obamacare May Be Here To Stay

Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons

After five years of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, and the failure after more than 50 votes in Congress to get the needed support to repeal the signature legislative achievement of Barack Obama’s presidency, Republicans in Congress are dropping the effort for repeal and are turning to issues such as trade and tax reform.

This is not surprising. You can only go so many rounds with the “Let us repeal Obamacare” campaign when support for doing so is lacking. Also, the Republicans do not want another government shutdown over this issue, considering the effect that could have on the Republican nominee for the presidential election next year. Another consideration is that Obamacare Is becoming more popular, as only 18 percent of the people want to go back to the time before Obamacare was implemented, and millions of Americans who formerly had no health insurance are now insured under Obamacare. Also, Republicans have not proposed a more desirable program to replace Obamacare.

The unraveling of the goal to repeal Obamacare is similar to what happened with efforts to repeal FDR’s New Deal program of the 1930s, especially after Dwight Eisenhower defeated the more conservative Senator Robert Taft of Ohio for the Republican nomination for president in 1952. President Eisenhower stated on television on the night of his second election in 1956 that the people were giving approval to the arrival of “Modern Republicanism,” which his administration represented. He confirmed the Republican acceptance of New Deal programs such as social security. His comments led some commentators to say that Ike was becoming a New Dealer.

If history is a guide to the future, ObamaCare is here to stay.

Dr. Ken Ciboski is an associate professor emeritus of political science at Wichita State University.