Today, Romney tries to remove his RomneyCare weakness
Yesterday it was Newt Gingrich; today, the political spotlight turns to another Republican vying for the party’s 2012 presidential nomination, Mitt Romney. And the spotlight is particularly bright because Romney today is making a two-pronged effort to attack the central weakness in his candidacy: health care.
It’s a weakness because, as just about everyone knows by now, Romney as governor of Massachusetts pushed for and signed into law a health reform that’s similar in many ways to the one President Obama pushed for and signed into law. ObamaCare has been such an animating concern on the right that RomneyCare is a huge, maybe insurmountable, obstacle for Romney.
Unless, of course, Romney can explain satisfactorily why his plan for Massachusetts was not only substantively but philosophically different from Obama’s plan for the whole country (or, I suppose, unless the rest of the GOP field is so weak as to not be able to take advantage of this weakness in Romney’s candidacy). Which brings us to that two-pronged effort.
First is an op-ed in USA Today in which Romney pledges, if elected, to “issue on my first day in office an executive order paving the way for waivers from ObamaCare for all 50 states. Subsequently, I will call on Congress to fully repeal ObamaCare.”
In its place, Romney offers five steps which he describes as “based on the same philosophical tenets as the reforms I offered during my last presidential campaign in 2008, [namely to] return power to the states, improve access by slowing health care cost increases, and make health insurance portable and flexible for today’s economy.”
Read the whole thing for a fuller explanation of those five steps. But — spoiler alert! — the closest he comes to drawing a distinction between RomneyCare and ObamaCare comes under Step 1, which relates to empowering states to find their own ways to take care of “citizens who are poor, uninsured or chronically ill”:
This reform speaks to the central advantage of our federalist system — that different states will experiment with and settle on the solutions that suit their residents best. Some states might pass a plan like the one we did in Massachusetts, while others will choose an altogether different route.
The federalism argument is a potentially powerful one, although it does leave open questions about why Gov. Romney favored an Obama-like approach for Massachusetts; the early returns, as represented by today’s hard-hitting, critical editorial in The Wall Street Journal, suggest he hasn’t answered those questions very well to date. And even if Romney had answered those questions, his federalism argument, at least as it’s made in Romney’s op-ed, is not made very powerfully.
For that, look to Romney’s 2 p.m. speech at the University of Michigan. But this preview of the speech, by a Romney aide quoted at National Review Online, doesn’t inspire much confidence in me that the speech will differ appreciably from the op-ed as far as making RomneyCare more palatable to GOP voters.
An old political saw holds that if you’re explaining, you’re losing. A corollary might be that if you’re doing your best to avoid explaining, you’re losing even worse.
– By Kyle Wingfield
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
142 comments Add your comment
John
May 12th, 2011
8:57 pm
From Forbes…7/20/04…Postwar Presidencies Ranked By Six Measures Of Economic Performance, in order of best to worst total performance…
Bill Clinton – Democrat
Lyndon B. Johnson - Democrat
John F. Kennedy – Democrat
Ronald Reagan – Republican
Gerald R. Ford – Republican
Jimmy Carter – Democrat
Harry S. Truman – Democrat
Richard M. Nixon – Republican
Dwight D. Eisenhower – Republican
George H.W. Bush - Republican
“To create our rankings we looked at six measures of economic performance–GDP growth, per capita income growth, employment gains, unemployment rate reduction, inflation reduction and federal deficit reduction–for each of the ten postwar presidencies. For each measure we looked at whether the situation improved or got worse, and we ranked the presidents from 1 to 10. We then averaged the ranks to come up with a final score. ”
http://www.forbes.com/2004/07/20/cx_da_0720presidents.html
John
May 12th, 2011
9:03 pm
Linda@8:27, “Why would you & the liberals demonize health care industries when there are other industries making tons more profit?”
Read all my post…I didn’t demonize the health care industries. You asked a question about profits and I answered it. If you notice, both RomneyCare and ObamaCare, we’ll still get our insurance from the private market. But since you claim I demonized the health care industries, point out which post I did that in.
bob
May 12th, 2011
9:04 pm
kyle,
Mi apologies for the delayed response. Went out for some mexican food served by my favorite illegals this side of Dalton. I concur with your analysis. Whatever higher tax/lower expenditure % worked under Clinton should be implemented.
P.S.: Amigo, stay away from the huevos rancheros…
Linda
May 12th, 2011
9:07 pm
John@8:57, Are you nuts? What does a site from 2004 have to do with 2011? Can’t you do better than that?
bob
May 12th, 2011
9:08 pm
john,
Your link is suspect. Steve Forbes is a RINO. (Joke)
Linda
May 12th, 2011
9:15 pm
John@9:03, Your brain works differently than mine. I’m not saying that one is right & one is wrong. What I’m saying is that some people have common sense & some people don[’t. People that don’t have common sense, like you, aren’t necessarily wrong or stupid, just warped. Good luck to you.
Michael H. Smith
May 12th, 2011
9:15 pm
Kind of interesting…
The key to Clinton’s success, says Alice Rivlin, a Brookings Institution scholar who served as his director of management and budget, was adhering to the “pay/go” agreement first forged by President George H. W. Bush and a Democratic Congress, whereby tax cuts or entitlement increases had to be funded on a current basis.
Alice Rivlin just so happens to be party to the Rivlin/Ryan Medicare voucher and Medicaid block grant proposals. Wonder why the socialists Democrats are running a Mediscare propaganda campaign when one of their best is the co-author of what they are attacking. Someone that was directly, if not chiefly, involved with creating the top performing economy on record?
buck@gon
May 12th, 2011
9:25 pm
“An old political saw holds that if you’re explaining, you’re losing.”
An old saw that still cuts true, unfortunately.
The left’s solution to this is to surround Obama with sycophantic Washington reporters who refuse to ask him hard questions. Only if Donald Trump is around will they hesitate to beg to bring up something before spraying the good ship Trump with armor piercing bullets.
Even in the so-called “debate” about the healthcare bill, Obama hardly ever took questions. When he did meet with Congress, his petulant answer was basically to tell John McCain to shut up.
sallie
May 12th, 2011
9:28 pm
mike,
I guess the key to a successful presidency (Clinton&Obama) is to follow a Bush.
Linda
May 12th, 2011
9:31 pm
To be re-elected, all Obama has to do is to execute OBL 2 more times.
buck@gon
May 12th, 2011
9:31 pm
Someone that was directly, if not chiefly, involved with creating the top performing economy on record?
…the director of management and budget from the White House?
I have a hard time giving credit to anyone in Washington for creating wealth. They just don’t do it. What they can do is foster the good environment.
It might be more appropriate to say “…involved in not destroying the top performing economy….” as the O-administration can’t seem to help itself fast enough to accomplish.
John
May 12th, 2011
9:32 pm
Linda @9:07, “Are you nuts? What does a site from 2004 have to do with 2011? Can’t you do better than that?”
It has every relevance…it shows which Presidents (as well as party affiliation) has been better on handling the economy.
I guess you think history is not important? Do you keep making the same mistakes over and over and never learning from history?
John
May 12th, 2011
9:34 pm
Linda@9:15, “Your brain works differently than mine. I’m not saying that one is right & one is wrong. What I’m saying is that some people have common sense & some people don[’t. People that don’t have common sense, like you, aren’t necessarily wrong or stupid, just warped. Good luck to you.”
What’s the matter, you can’t defend your position so you resort to personal attacks and name calling? I’m just asking you to defend your position, which you don’t seem to be able to do.
Michael H. Smith
May 12th, 2011
9:40 pm
Abongo Obama, is he “Billy Beer” on steroids? Looks like Jimmy isn’t the only one with a brother best kept locked away in the attic.
http://www.nowpublic.com/politics/obama-s-brother-capture-nation-s-attention
John
May 12th, 2011
9:46 pm
Michael H. Smith@9:15, “Alice Rivlin just so happens to be party to the Rivlin/Ryan Medicare voucher and Medicaid block grant proposals. Wonder why the socialists Democrats are running a Mediscare propaganda campaign when one of their best is the co-author of what they are attacking. Someone that was directly, if not chiefly, involved with creating the top performing economy on record?”
Nice try but Alice Rivlin herself has said this is not the plan she co-authored and she does not support it.
Michael H. Smith
May 12th, 2011
9:48 pm
IRS Asked to Investigate Charity Run by Obama’s Brother
NLPC is asking the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to investigate the Barack H. Obama Foundation, which is soliciting tax-deductible contributions from the public although it is not tax exempt. The Foundation is named for Obama’s father and is apparently based in Kenya. Its founder and chairman is Abon’go Malik Obama (in photo), whose father is also the father of President Obama.
The Foundation has addresses in Kenya and in Arlington, Virginia to which it asks that donations be sent. Two members of the NLPC staff went to the Arlington address on May 6. It is a commercial mail drop facility where the clerk touted the fact that the address “looked like a real office address” and the facility could arrange to forward mail to any location in the world.
http://nlpc.org/stories/2011/05/08/irs-asked-investigate-charity-run-obamas-brother
John
May 12th, 2011
9:50 pm
Michael H. Smith@9:15…talking about the Ryan Plan, have you noticed the beating Republicans have taken at town hall meetings and how quickly they’re now running from the plan. I’m waiting for Harry Reed to bring it up for a vote in the Senate. Will be curious to see how Senate Republicans will vote on it for the record.
John
May 12th, 2011
9:52 pm
Linda @9:31, at least he was able to kill OBL once in only 2 years…Bush couldn’t do it in 8.
sallie
May 12th, 2011
9:55 pm
BREAKING NEWS:
Senator Coburn supports the Defense of Marriage Payoff Act.
Linda
May 12th, 2011
9:57 pm
John@9:32, If you want to know what’s happening with the economy, check with the dozen or so economic indicators. If you are primitive, just go to the grocery store or fill up your gas tank. We ain’t seen nothing yet. There’s no end in sight with the bailouts of Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac that are coming down the pipeline. You & most of the American people are in for a rude awakening.
History is repeating itself. Govt. stimulus spending has never worked in the US or abroad.
@9:34, You are unfair in your accusations. Again, just go to where OBL is & rest in peace.
Michael H. Smith
May 12th, 2011
9:59 pm
John@9:46 pm
She sure seemed to approve the approach in the interview clip of her that I seen. And….
Alice Rivlin, who served as White House budget director under former President Clinton, said that some version of a premium support system, such as Ryan proposed, could extend Medicare’s solvency.
“I still think premium support could be the basis for a bipartisan reform of Medicare, but it would have to be in a different form than Ryan proposed it,” she told The Hill.
“I’m not ready to declare premium support dead. But in the form in which Ryan put it out, he turned everybody off,” she said.
This puts your statement in great doubt: “I’m not ready to declare premium support dead.
Perhaps you should give it another try. A valid one hopefully.
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/medicare/160125-republican-rift-widens-on-medicare
Michael H. Smith
May 12th, 2011
10:04 pm
John @ 9:50 pm – I’ve noticed the Senate Democrats have no plan to offer in a counter proposal.
John
May 12th, 2011
10:05 pm
Michael H. Smith @9:40, “Abongo Obama, is he “Billy Beer” on steroids? Looks like Jimmy isn’t the only one with a brother best kept locked away in the attic. ”
Nice try…did you read other areas of the site? From their site…”NowPublic is a multimedia online news magazine where you can make, break, shape, and share international news as it happens.” “Unlike traditional news organizations, NowPublic enables you to participate in the news-making process. Whether you’re interested in being an on-the-scene reporter, a newshound, photographer, or videographer, we’re happy to hear from you and show you the ropes.”
Linda
May 12th, 2011
10:07 pm
John@9:52, So you are disagreeing with 6 national security advisers, including Obama’s chief CIA head, Panetta, who claim that enhanced interrogation techniques led to the location of OBL?
Michael H. Smith
May 12th, 2011
10:12 pm
John @ 10:05 pm – No trying here, just making some casual observations on Abongo but you can struggle with the other comment posted on Obongo’s questionable charity activities.
sallie
May 12th, 2011
10:15 pm
LInda,
So you disagree with John McCain who stated torture played no part in finally(took a real leader) getting OBL?
John
May 12th, 2011
10:16 pm
Michael H. Smith@10:04 pm…they did one better, they passed it. It’s called the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act, sometimes referred to ObamaCare.
Linda
May 12th, 2011
10:19 pm
John, I can’t believe that you didn’t address my post at 4:18 today. Did you miss it or elect to ignore it?
John
May 12th, 2011
10:23 pm
Linda@10:07, Panetta did not say that. And according to John McCain, as reported by AP…”He said he asked CIA Director Leon Panetta for the facts, and that the hunt for bin Laden did not begin with fresh information for Mohammed. In fact, the name of bin Laden’s courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, came from a detainee held in another country.
“Not only did the use of enhanced interrogation techniques on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed not provide us with key leads on bin Laden’s courier, Abu Ahmed, it actually produced false and misleading information,” McCain said. He called on Mukasey and others to correct their misstatements.
A call to Mukasey at his New York law firm was not immediately returned Thursday. Mukasey was President George W. Bush’s last attorney general.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110512/ap_on_re_us/us_bin_laden_torture_3
sallie
May 12th, 2011
10:29 pm
McCain:
“I had to speak out because I do feel strongly … it really is about the moral standing of the United States of America in the world.” “I think those allegations are not substantiated by the facts,” he said. “The first information concerning this courier Abu Ahmed was obtained through another source. An individual who, as far as we know, was not subjected to these coercive techniques – in other words, torture.”
“This is one of the problems in torturing people,” he continued. “You get good information and you get bad information also…it’s pretty clear you could have gotten the same good information through using standard techniques which don’t entail waterboarding and other forms of cruel and inhumane treatment.”
The
Michael H. Smith
May 12th, 2011
10:30 pm
John @ 10:16 pm – Nice try as you say, the Ryan plan is tied to budget – deficit- spending reform as well as Medicare and Medicaid reforms. Oh that’s right, the Democrats never even had a budget for 2010 now did they? As for 2011, doesn’t look as though they are doing any better this time around with nothing put on the budget deficit reduction table? So really, other than digging the ditch deeper, they ain’t done squat!
John
May 12th, 2011
10:32 pm
As McCain reported, which is in the video, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times and it led to false and misleading information.
John
May 12th, 2011
10:49 pm
Michael H. Smith@10:30, Yes, the Ryan bill is tied to the budget and where do budget bills originate? According to the US Constitution, it originates in the House. And who is the majority party in the House? Republicans. So the Senate where the Democrats are in the majority can’t bring it up for a vote until it passes the House, which the Ryan bill did so as I stated earlier, I would like to see Harry Reed bring it up in the Senate and put the Senate Republicans on record.
As far as the budget deficit reduction table, both Democrats and Republicans are saying we need spending cuts. Democrats also want to add some increase in taxes on the higher income bracket as well as end oil subsidies (the most profitable companies in the history of the planet) to help reduce the deficit…it’s the Republicans that have said that’s off the table.
John
May 12th, 2011
10:52 pm
Michael H. Smith@10:30…the difference between the Democrats and Republicans with respect to the deficit reduction table…the Democrats feel everyone should share in the pain of getting the deficit reduced, whereas the Republicans feel only the working class and poor should shoulder all the pain.
Linda
May 12th, 2011
11:00 pm
sallie@10:15, Google “Obama rendition” & you will receive a rude awakening on what this president is up to. What is worse: rendition or EITs on our own soil?
Michael H. Smith
May 12th, 2011
11:05 pm
John @ 10:52 pm – Really, strange how the unions don’t seem to be sharing that pain you speak of and that would include a few other groups like the poor and working class of which I’d qualify as a member of both that has felt the increasing pain at the gas pump, grocery counter and in the pocket every week, with healthcare cost up twice, benefits cut twice and co-pays raised twice. Yeah, you and your Democrats really feel my pain, John. But not like your Democrats are going to feel my PAIN leading up to November 2012 and thereafter.
Michael H. Smith
May 12th, 2011
11:17 pm
John @ 10:49 pm The Democrats have not cut spending a dime. They have increased spending and the growth in government. Speaker John Boehner went after ending oil company subsidies way ahead of the Democrat’s talking points. Republicans haven’t gone after the cuts and reduction like they should have but your Democrats are worse than a pathetic joke when confronted with making real cuts and reductions to the size, scope and spending of the federal government.
MarkV
May 12th, 2011
11:24 pm
I asked Kyle for a reason why different states should use different approaches to health care to justify the “federalist argument” of Romney. Not surprisingly, he did not come up with one. As for pointing out different health conditions in different states, it only demonstrates that some people fail to understand the point of the question, also not surprisingly, because that has nothing to do with the system of health care.
John
May 13th, 2011
12:02 am
Michael H. Smith @11:05, “has felt the increasing pain at the gas pump, grocery counter and in the pocket every week, with healthcare cost up twice, benefits cut twice and co-pays raised twice. ”
The things you mentioned are all sold by private industry, not the government. Gas prices rising while the oil companies are making record profits (most profitable in the planets history), rising healthcare cost, benefits being cut and co-pays raised has been happening for years.
John
May 13th, 2011
12:24 am
Michael H. Smith @11:17, “Speaker John Boehner went after ending oil company subsidies way ahead of the Democrat’s talking points.”
Democrats have been trying to get rid of the oil subsidies for years. Boehner said a mentioned a couple weeks ago he may consider taking away the tax breaks for oil companies but did you notice how quickly he reversed that. As reported on Fox News…
“Boehner also recently indicated support for the idea of reconsidering tax breaks for oil companies, estimated by the Obama administration to be worth $4 billion annually.
But Boehner, digging in his heels, this week reiterated a demand to leave tax hikes out of the budget equation and said Congress should take up spending cuts in the “trillions” — a goal that would virtually require lawmakers to make changes to entitlements like Medicare. ”
It was the Democrats today, that had CEOs of the large oil companies testifying in Congress…not the Republicans. ConocoPhillips CEO Jim Mulva, in 2005, testified that he agreed with President Bush’s assessment that with “$55 oil, we do not need incentives to oil and gas companies to explore.” Mulva testified, “With respect to oil and gas exploration and production, we do not need incentives.” But now, with oil prices now hovering around $100 per barrel, Mulva has inexplicably changed his tune. But maybe we’ll see who will walk the walk…Democrats plan on bringing it up for a vote in the Senate.
robertchest
May 13th, 2011
3:45 am
You may want to consider that Newt’s Presidential candidacy is sort of like you or I getting drunk and molesting your secretary on the first week of an entry level job, being forced to tender your resignation, submit to alcohol rehab and serving time in a federal penententiary and then a few weeks or months later upon release, submitting your resume for the CEO spot of that same company. http://bit.ly/kLS1Lj
Mary Margaret Thomlinson-Hanson
May 13th, 2011
11:13 am
Linda, it is Mrs. Do you not see the hyphenated name? I addressed you before with your condescending homeless guy story, and told you that I was married. But comprehension isn’t your strong point.
The United States is number 37 according to the World Health Organization for healthcare system.
I love being American, and love this country. But I also realize that some things in this country do need to change.
I do demonize the healthcare insurers because they are quick to drop you when you need them. Healthcare is not something that should be played around with. Maybe you have no value for human life, but I do.
People choose to drink and smoke. They know of the risks, and continue to do that. That is a choice. The company makes money off of these poor choices.
If i get in a car accident or run, exercise, and eat right and yet have a heart attack due to something genetic, why should I be penalized by the healthcare system after paying years into a policy?
Or a child is born with a heart defect and is denied coverage because it is a “pre-existing condition”.