I said I would get to the exchange between Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney regarding “Romneycare” because I believe it demonstrates Romney’s weakness on the issue not just in the GOP primary (which he will overcome) but in the general election (which hopefully he will not).
Santorum has often attacked both Gingrich and Romney on this issue—which pleases the Obama camp—but never as effectively (albeit dishonestly) as he did during Thursdays CNN GOP debate:
SANTORUM: Governor Romney was the author of Romneycare, which is a top- down government-run health care system which… has 15 different items directly in common with Obamacare…that government is going to mandate you buy something… mandate that you buy an insurance policy, something that Governor Romney agreed to at the state level…Something that everyone now, at least up on this stage, says is radically unconstitutional…
Santorum went on to describe what he believes are problems with the health care law in Massachusetts including higher health care costs and increased waiting times and a lack of sufficient care for some.
Now, this puts Romney in a difficult position. He has two options:
1. Admit his plan in Massachusetts is a failure and repent.
2. Dispute Santorum’s contentions and defend his plan.
If he takes the first path, he thus admits his largest accomplishment as governor was a complete failure that ultimately has led to another disaster at the federal level, which conservatives keep telling us is coming. It would be hard to tell folks in the general election that they should elect you as president when you have admitted to such a colossal blunder.
If he takes the second path, he is essentially defending the Affordable Care Act, along with its controversial mandate. And he will thus in the general election lose any persuasive force in advocating for its repeal, which, according to conservative-oriented pollster Rasmussen, just slightly over half of likely voters favor.
And it is hard to see how Romney can convincingly make repealing the law the “cornerstone” of a general election campaign, which well-financed groups like Karl Rove’s American Crossroads PAC will demand.
So, what does Mitt do in the face of fierce criticism from Santorum? Well, he tried at first to have it both ways, as usual:
ROMNEY: Our system has a lot of flaws, a lot of things I’d do differently. It has a lot of benefits. The people of the state like it by about three to one.
Flaws? The Massachusetts system has flaws? What are they? What would Romney do differently? I have never heard him answer those questions. He goes on:
ROMNEY: We consider it very different than Obamacare. If I were president, day one I will take action to repeal Obamacare. It’s bad medicine. It’s bad economy. I’ll repeal it. (APPLAUSE)
And I believe the people — I believe the people of each state should be able to craft programs that they feel are best for their people. I think ours is working pretty well. If I were governor, it would work a heck of a lot better.
Clearly Romney has committed to the second option: He is defending his plan. But Santorum is not finished:
SANTORUM: What Governor Romney just said is that government-run top-down medicine is working pretty well in Massachusetts and he supports it. Now, think about what that means –
ROMNEY: That’s not what I said.
SANTORUM: — going up against Barack Obama, who you are going to claim, well, top-down government-run medicine on the federal level doesn’t work and we should repeal it. And he’s going to say, wait a minute, Governor. You just said that top-down government-run medicine in Massachusetts works well.
This is Santorum’s strongest moment. But Mitt’s not finished:
ROMNEY: Rick, I make enough mistakes in what I say, not for you to add more mistakes to what I say. I didn’t say I’m in favor of top-down government-run health care; 92 percent of the people in my state had insurance before our plan went in place. And nothing changes for them. They own the same private insurance they had before.
And for the 8 percent of people who didn’t have insurance, we said to them, if you can afford insurance, buy it yourself, any one of the plans out there, you can choose any plan. There’s no government plan.
And if you don’t want to buy insurance, then you have to help pay for the cost of the state picking up your bill, because under federal law if someone doesn’t have insurance, then we have to care for them in the hospitals, give them free care. So we said, no more, no more free riders. We are insisting on personal responsibility.
Either get the insurance or help pay for your care. And that was the conclusion that we reached.
Uh-oh. Santorum just forced Romney into defending not only the concept behind the Affordable Care Act, but he forced Romney into making a very convincing case for the dreaded mandate to purchase health care insurance! Obama couldn’t have done a better job himself.
Santorum realizes this and wants to make sure everyone understands what Romney has done:
SANTORUM: Does everybody in Massachusetts have a requirement to buy health care?
ROMNEY: Everyone has a requirement to either buy it or pay the state for the cost of providing them free care. Because the idea of people getting something for free when they could afford to care for themselves is something that we decided in our state was not a good idea…
SANTORUM: Just so I understand this, in Massachusetts, everybody is mandated as a condition of breathing in Massachusetts, to buy health insurance, and if you don’t, and if you don’t, you have to pay a fine. What has happened in Massachusetts is that people are now paying the fine because health insurance is so expensive. And you have a pre-existing condition clause in yours, just like Barack Obama.
So what is happening in Massachusetts, the people that Governor Romney said he wanted to go after, the people that were free-riding, free ridership has gone up five-fold in Massachusetts… Why? Because people are ready to pay a cheaper fine and then be able to sign up to insurance, which are now guaranteed under “Romney-care,” than pay high cost insurance, which is what has happened as a result of “Romney-care.”
You can sense at this point that Romney realizes his predicament and comes back with this:
ROMNEY: First of all, it’s not worth getting angry about…(APPLAUSE)
Oh, Santorum wasn’t angry, he was just excited because he had drawn blood. Romney goes on to explain that it “is simply impossible” for there to be an increase in people “free-riding the system,” and then he begins to lie about Obama’s plan and ends with assuring the audience that he will repeal it.
Santorum won’t let it end, though, without having the last word:
SANTORUM: Wolf, what Governor Romney said is just factually incorrect. Your mandate is no different than Barack Obama’s mandate. It is the same mandate. He takes over…(APPLAUSE) You take over 100 percent, just like he takes over 100 percent, requires the mandate. The same fines that you put in place in Massachusetts are fines that he puts in place in the federal level. Same programs.
Like this:
Tags: Barack Obama, CNN GOP debate, Massachusetts health care reform, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum
January 28, 2012 at 3:33 pm |
No, NO , duane,
Romney has very much a third choice. Obviously the voters in MA along with an 85% majority in their legislature thought that State supported health care was the correct path forward. Romney has the Governor of such a state have vetoed the legislation or simply made it as “good as it could be, given the conditions in that state”.
That is pure politics and not a reflection on what Romney MAY have done had he the absolute power to do so, which of course no governor has, or President for that matter. You do the best you can with what you have at the time. And obviously, MA was hell bent for leather to provide HC for all, no matter what.
So Santorum, aka the “little twerp” is calling Romney on “Romneycare” while he bobs a weaves all over the place in NOT voting for right to work while a PA Senator. What the heck is the difference in terms of “doing what you constituents want” and doing what is the right thing to do, for you state or your nation.
All the attacks on Romney over “Romneycare” are simply pure politics feeding the “maw” of the conservative wing of the GOP. It is what he will do in NATIONAL politics about HC, abortion, etc that count now, not what he did as Governor of a very liberal state, or Senator in a heavy Union state, or Speaker of the House trying to “make a deal” with a Dem in the White House. Bohner could take some lessons from Gingrich in that regard, I think. But then the Tea Party Congresspeople would revoke his “speakership’ just like they did Gingrich, right!!!
I just long for the time, fast now approaching, where your blog will focus on the GOP candidate, probably Romney, and Obama. Then we can really get down to the issues, not the fluff.
Anson.
January 29, 2012 at 11:11 pm |
You wrote,
First of all, you wrote,
Hmm. That seems to apply to everyone except Barack Obama.
Second, I don’t know if you read the post or if you once again skimmed it, but Santorum exposed a weakness in Romney’s general election candidacy that has to be addressed by his campaign. The point of the post is that finding a solution to his dilemma will not be easy. Romney has used language designed to get him out of trouble with the GOP electorate, but that language is exactly what Obama would use to defend the ACA. You explain to me how Romney can rationally call for repeal of the ACA and rationally defend the language he used that I quoted in the post. Many right-wing pundits have made that same point.
Duane