Romney, Romneycare, and Obamacare
When pressed on the question of Romneycare, Mitt Romney repeatedly reverts to the claim that this was a program designed for the people of one state and that they are happy with it, which allows his partisans to make the following argument:
| BThompson: You can attack Romneycare from the right, but Obama won't be doing that. Obama can't attack it from the left. You think Romney won't be able to hurt Obama on the issue as hard as you'd like, but he doesn't need to. He just needs to assure independents that don't like Obamacare that they won't have to live with it. The general electorate is not going to be as hung up on the differences/similarities as the GOP primary electorate is. Romney promises to replace Obamacare with something more market oriented, using competition to control costs, not bureaucrats. He won't raise taxes nor cut medicare. He won't require you to buy more insurance than you want. He makes reforms that delink insurance from employment, making it more portable. Those will all be popular reforms Romney can emphasize as distinctions. What's more, where Obamacare might be fairly popular, like Massachusetts, or even swing states like Michigan and Wisconsin, Romney offers them the option at the state level to keep aspects of Obamacare. That could prove an asset in purple parts of the country. It's just not that big a deal. |
With this argument, there is, however, one insuperable problem. When his proposal was passed in Massachusetts, the proud father of Romneycare recommended it to the rest of us as “a model for the states.” Then, he suggested it as “a model for the nation,” and in the hardback version of his campaign book No Apology, which came out in March, 2010, he wrote, “From now on, no one in Massachusetts has to worry about losing his or her health insurance if there is a job change or a loss in income; everyone is insured and pays only what he or she can afford….We can accomplish the same thing for everyone in the country….”
Barack Obama will go to town with this -- and to date Governor Romney has not evidenced an awareness of the trouble he is in. Had Rick Santorum hammered him with the significance of these statements in the last debate, he would have done an even greater public service than he did. Is it not time that Romney's partisans jettison the attempt to defend the indefensible and admit that the man has a serious problem -- that he is the public proponent of a reprehensible program?
As regular readers of Ricochet know, I am inclined to think Mitt Romney the least unacceptable of the Republican aspirants. If I were on the man's campaign team, it would sit him down and ask him how he is going to deal with the attacks he is going to face. Not all of the campaign promises in the world will save a candidate who presents himself to the public as an outright hypocrite.
We should stop kidding ourselves. If Mitt Romney does not find a way to distance himself from his handiwork, he will lose in 2012 -- and those among his admirers who fail to bring this home to him in the bluntest terms will be party to his defeat.
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Aug '11
Re: Romney, Romneycare, and Obamacare
The problem, though, is that if he suddenly shifts his position, I will assume he is only saying what he thinks he needs to say in order to get my vote. He has defended it too long and too resolutely for me to believe that any shift would be genuine.
As far as I'm concerned, the only acceptable thing Mitt Romney can do now is lose the nomination.
Dec '10
Re: Romney, Romneycare, and Obamacare
I fear you are right.
Jun '10
Re: Romney, Romneycare, and Obamacare
There are boxers who have almost everything a boxer could want--big hands, fast hands, quick feet, and stamina. But they also have a big glass jaw. That's Romney, and healthcare is his big glass jaw.
Mar '11
Re: Romney, Romneycare, and Obamacare
I imagine TeamRomney has a much simpler, more diabolic plan: not to bring up healthcare reform at all during the general election.
Think of it this way: if Obama touts Obamacare as his major achievement during his presidency, Romney can take credit as being the inspiration for the legislation. If Obama attacks Romney for Romneycare, Romney can call Obama a hypocrite for adopting it nationwide.
Thus, both candidates have a strong incentive not to even mention the program. Sort of like political Mutually Assured Destruction.
I can't wait for 2016.
Edited on Jan 30 at 4:52pmMar '11
Re: Romney, Romneycare, and Obamacare
If anyone can popularize Obamacare, it's Mitt Romney. All Obama has to do is goad him into defense mode, and Mitt will be off to the races again, trying to defend by means of the 10th Amendment his version of Obama's least popular "achievement". Obama doesn't even need a debate to do this -- it might be more effective to do it through advertizing alone.
Mar '11
Re: Romney, Romneycare, and Obamacare
Maybe Romney is hoping SCOTUS torches Obamacare, thereby rendering the subject moot by the Fall. Not that I think this is a good strategy, but after the Obamacare fiasco I thought a handful of conservative candidates would rise up and try to out Hayek one another. So what do I know?
Nada.
Apr '11
Re: Romney, Romneycare, and Obamacare
Remind me please:
Why is Romney the most electable?
Jan '11
Re: Romney, Romneycare, and Obamacare
BThompson: Obama can't attack it from the left. You think Romney won't be able to hurt Obama on the issue as hard as you'd like, but he doesn't need to. He just needs to assure independents that don't like Obamacare that they won't have to live with it.
Obama doesn't have to attack Romneycare. That's the whole point! He's going to stand on the presidential debate floor and smile broadly at Romney, and tell him there's nothing different between them; that Romney ought to run as a Democrat because that's what his record suggests. He'll have fun with Romney - and it will be easy. Obama will tie Romney to Obamacare with unbreakable chains, and he'll ask why change for no change?
It's clear that Romneycare, his Mormon religion, his judicial appointments, and his Obama-like political profile are too much to overcome. Romney will lose the general election - a landslide for Obama - insuring even more socialist programs, two more socialist SCOTUS judges, and a more rapid decline of America.
All that is crystal clear. Be it on Romney supporter's heads when it comes to pass.
Dec '10
Re: Romney, Romneycare, and Obamacare
I think Mendel has it right. Both Obamacare and Romneycare are unpopular nationally. Were Romney to win the nomination, we ironically end up in a situation where it's in both candidates' interest not to talk about the greatest "achievement" of their respective administrations. Hence, Republicans concede arguably the most powerful conservative rallying issue in a generation.
Mar '11
Re: Romney, Romneycare, and Obamacare
How did we get here? Seriously, what happened? I shouldn't be distraught this close to November 2012, I should be ebullient at the prospect of a conservative landslide.
Yet I despair...
Dec '10
Re: Romney, Romneycare, and Obamacare
Paul A. Rahe:
The second sentence above directly contradicts the first. The general electorate isn't going to get into the distinctions between ObamaCare and RomneyCare, but they somehow ARE going to grasp the difference between RomneyCare and... RomneyCare Mk2?
Given that Romney persistently and stubbornly defends the Massachusetts health insurance reforms to which his name has been attached, how are general electorate voters supposed to get the message that he disavows that set of reforms in favor of something different?
If Romney can't come out and say directly that RomneyCare in Massachusetts is a failure - a failure from which he has learned valuable lessons, but a failure still - he's going to get caught in a trap that Obama and his political minions are eager to spring.
Aug '10
Re: Romney, Romneycare, and Obamacare
Dr Rahe, don't you think " least unacceptable " is just a bit provocative ?
May '10
Re: Romney, Romneycare, and Obamacare
As I have said today: If he would just back off it, I would vote for him. But he won't. Romney is clearly OK with the tyranny of the Individual mandate
Dec '10
Re: Romney, Romneycare, and Obamacare
Gus Marvinson
How did we get here? Seriously, what happened? I shouldn't be distraught this close to November 2012, I should be ebullient at the prospect of a conservative landslide.
Yet I despair... · 4 minutes ago
Let not thy heart be troubled. Better we find ourselves here at this juncture than prematurely coasting to a presumed landslide victory: the situation we are in forces us and our candidates to consider our respective weaknesses and come up with remedies.
The troubling thing to which Dr. Rahe alludes is that Romney doesn't seem willing or able to come up with a remedy for his RomneyCare weakness, despite ample and repeated warnings that he has to do just that.
Dec '10
Re: Romney, Romneycare, and Obamacare
It's only provocative if you believe that one of the Final Four is close to your ideal candidate.
Otherwise, if you feel all four are flawed in many respects, even badly flawed in some, you have to look for the least bad option.
Sep '10
Re: Romney, Romneycare, and Obamacare
It must be that Romney thinks providing health insurance to all is a good idea policy-wise. I think that's why he doesn't recant. If he can, instead of trying to avoid criticism deflect it by promising to ax the mandate, delink health insurance from employment, and make it more portable but also provide a sense of security about losing your health coverage in an emergency (especially now, with the bad economic climate), I think he can turn a loser into a big winner. It would hold great appeal to moderates of both parties as well as independents. If I were sure that Romney would take this approach I would be on his side for sure. But I don't want a wink wink; I want a campaign promise I can think something of. ... On the other hand, we know that if a Republican wins the presidency the Democrats in Congress will go to war and not let anything happen. In such a scenario, Romney seems like a better arbiter than Newt, who just doesn't seem able to, as my father used to say, rise above it.
Mar '11
Re: Romney, Romneycare, and Obamacare
So true.
Even worse, my gut feeling tells me that Romney would personally have no problem denouncing Romneycare, since he probably just passed it in MA based on its political popularity.
But he probably made the strategic decision in early 2011 to embrace it so as to fend off the flip-flopper charge (which killed him in 2008), and now he wears that albatross around his neck.
Dec '10
Re: Romney, Romneycare, and Obamacare
I really suspect that there may be people that discount the terrible condition of both this country, and the planet, and don't suspect that Obama would vote for Romney.
For the left, that's a half step back and two steps ahead. Obama and the left deperately need a managerial progressive and a tax collector for the welfare state. They need somebody to step in, briefly, with a dust pan and an eraser to clean up the mess and wipe away the traces.
This is my "Moss covered, three handled, family credenzza" theory of politics. The Cat In The Hat and Things 1 and 2 clean up the mess (they made), before Mom gets home, and the folks at home will bear all the eventual consequences.
Romney, McConnell, and Boehner will tidy everything up. Mom will eventually get the bill.
Sep '10
Re: Romney, Romneycare, and Obamacare
If Obama pushes Mitt Romney too hard, he'll get angry. You wouldn't like him when he's angry. When he's angry he'll open up a can of awesome with Vice Presidential nominee: Bob Dole.
Don't Mess with Kansas.
May '10
Re: Romney, Romneycare, and Obamacare
billy: Remind me please:
Why is Romney the most electable? · 1 hour ago
Not sure I can explain it, but so far, it seems so...