Medicare, ObamaCare, RomneyCare = Our Care?....
And what of ObamaCare & RomneyCare?
Mitt has the health care mandate of RomneyCare to deal with, as it makes it hard for him to convince skeptical anti-ObamaCare voters to support him. Mitt's website has a solid May 12, 2011 RomneyCare vs. ObamaCare posting; slides 5 thru 25 explain differences between the two health care systems. While both feature an individual mandate--the most salient ObamaCare provision now facing challnege in the Supreme Court--Romney's Massachusetts model would only have applied to the 6 percent of MA residents who did not already have health care (plus any who dropped existing coverage & did not pick up new coverage); ObamaCare would eventually shove everyone into a small number of ObamaCare health cooperatives.
Romney's online slides present credible differences between his & O's models. But the argument, while worth looking at, is a tough sell to voters on the hustings, when you have 30 - 90 seconds to answer questions. Obama's ad merchants can craft ads confusing the two with ease--especially with video clips of past statements by Romney praising ObamaCare.
And then there is Rick Santorum's nailing Mitt (4:02) at last week's Jacksonville FL debate, on similarities between RomneyCare & ObamaCare; Rick wins the back & forth. The case was made in writing by health policy maven Grace-Marie Turner; she notes that MA residents who do not buy health insurance are fined--as is true with The One's federal plan.
But last Thursday's debate had another Maalox Health Care Moment: an exchange between Santorum & Romney on what is at stake in the ObamaCare debate, as reported by David Catron at TAS:
"Folks, we can't give this issue away in this election. It is about fundamental freedom." The former Massachusetts governor responded with the usual rote talking points, which Santorum vehemently rejected. Romney then uttered the most revealing words of the debate: "First of all, it's not worth getting angry about."
As for Newt, here is one of his own Maalox Health Care Moment quotes: in 2009 he praised (1:15) both the ObamaCare legislative process & individual mandate.
Expect Obama to commit this material to memory.
A related issue, tartly framed by George Will, is that of Obama's addiction to a military command model for civil society: he really expects everyone to get in line & march behind him & his fellow self-anointed progressives. "March on to ObamaCare!! Fall in line!!"
If we let our ObamaCare lapse, will we face court-martial? Allen West, Iraq War veteran, told a FL audience that his message for those who would run America that way is "Get the Hell out of the USA!" (2:32).
Bottom Line. The GOP candidate must convince GOP & independent voters that the GOP will administer a lethal injection to ObamaCare, and with it kill the commend model for health care too. A tall order, come this November, for Mitt or Newt.
Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, Conservative Politics
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