Analysis: Lessons for and About Trump in Health Care Debacle

WASHINGTON -- Republicans called Obamacare a disaster for seven years and voted dozens of times in Congress to repeal it.As a candidate, President Donald Trump campaigned with bravado. Repeal would be easy. He could guarantee a replacement that would be cheaper and better.The debacle that played out on Friday left him badly bruised. He dove into a gnarly legislative battle and came away schooled in some of Washington's ideological potholes and egos -- and enlightened as to the complexities of governing.And for his adversaries -- in Congress and abroad -- the episode held other lessons. It exposed a glass jaw. Trump can be outmaneuvered.It didn't help that he and fellow Republicans have offered promises that were basically incompatible: scaling back regulation, taxes and spending without reducing coverage or the number of people with insurance.Governing is harder than it looksRepeal, Trump told voters over and over , was going to easy. So easy. And a top priority."My first day in office, I'm going to ask Congress to put a bill on my desk getting rid of this disastrous law and replacing it with reforms that expand choice, freedom, affordability," he said at an Oct. 25 rally in Sanford, Fla., as an example. "You're going to have such great health care at a tiny fraction of the cost. And it's going to be so easy."  Continue reading...