Fake manufactured baggage. Even if you think the ACA was a terrible idea and bad policy the fact is Republicans opposed it entirely out of spite and worked to repeal parts of it for the same reason. It had nothing to do with a rational approach to public policy.
The modern conservative movement has only two policies: no regulation (You Can't Tell Me What to Do Dad) and no taxes (Screw You, I Got Mine). Solving problems often requires regulation and money. Hence Republicans are incapable of solving most kinds of problems. A third leg, if one exists, is spitefully destroying anything that might demonstrate the government can do anything good or of value.
Anti-free market policies? Excellent because it reduces regulation. Hurt American competitiveness? Who cares, as long as I don't have to pay taxes.
I would agree that all long-term political baggage is ‘fake’ and ‘manufactured’ in that it’s human-created.
That is not accurate:
> Not only were Republican senators deeply involved in the process up until its conclusion, but it's a cinch that the ACA might have become law months earlier if the Democrats, hoping for a bipartisan bill, hadn't spent enormous time and effort wooing GOP senators — only to find themselves gulled by false promises of cooperation. And unlike Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's semi-secret proceedings that involved only a handful of trusted colleagues, Obamacare, until the very end of the process, was open to public scrutiny.
* https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/08/01/set-health...
As in, "we have a majority so we drive the political clown-car. "
> We feel a tap on our shoulder and we look back, and who is it? It's the Republicans. And they say "Huh, excuse me, we'd like the keys back." And we have to tell them "I'm sorry, you can't have the keys back if you don't know how to drive". If you want you can ride with us but you have to ride in the back seat.
Further context: Oct. 22, 2010, in Las Vegas on behalf of Sen. Harry Reid's re-election campaign.
As a sibling comment notes: the Democrats had the majority at the time and were in charge of setting the agenda ("had the keys").
Further, Obama was willing to give the GOP a (figurative) ride if they wanted and were heading in the same direction.