Posturing

I was sitting at my desk at the day job today over lunch poring over my news feeds and musing about Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) railing against the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  It would appear that Paul responded on Good Morning America today defending his relationship with the president and holding firm on his rejection of the bill - which would have repealed and replaced the ACA – what we all know as Obamacare.    

Of interest to me is Paul also happens to represent a state that has enjoyed a substantial helping of federal munificence as a consequence the ACA.  Almost a half-million Kentuckians obtained health insurance coverage thru the Act plunging Kentucky’s uninsured rate from 20 percent in 2013 to 7.5 percent in 2015.  Appalachia in particular embraced the bounteousness.   

In one of life’s great ironies this region voted overwhelmingly for Paul’s 2016 reelection than did any other region of the state.  Paul won by landslide margins in Leslie, Clay and Jackson Counties where 15 to 18 percent of the population would stand to lose their Medicaid coverage gained via Obamacare expansion if the ACA were repealed.  Any snide commentary about voting against one's self interests is omitted on purpose.

Former Senator (and presidential candidate) Robert Dole long ago imparted some wisdom about this sort of politics suggesting that the soundest thing for a politician to do is to support the bill that failed; oppose the bill that passed.  I think Paul is double-dealing – righteous posturing and simultaneously embracing the obvious outcome.  

Sheesh...

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