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The Spectacle Blog
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is throwing a Faneuil Hall birthday party for Romneycare, which turns six today. Think this is a coincidence? Patrick is close to the Obama administration and his first gubernatorial campaign was run by David Axelrod.
Coming the day after Rick Santorum ended his presidential campaign — and effectively ended any prospect of denying Mitt Romney the Republican nomination — it is a reminder of why conservatives were so reluctant to embrace the GOP frontrunner. Romney signed into law a state-level health care reform bill that contains an individual mandate and otherwise shares the basic architecture of Obamacare. Romneycare’s failures are the best real-world examples that Obamacare will not work, yet Republicans are powerless to make that argument.
Santorum was pressing the Romneycare case pretty hard in the waning days of his campaign, and Barack Obama can be expected to play up its similarities to Obamacare for different reasons — to portray his federal power grab as mainstream, bipartisan, and no big deal. Of course, the state mandate doesn’t raise the same constitutional questions as Obama’s federal version.
The Supreme Court may give Romney an assist by throwing out the individual mandate or the entire federal health care law. This should allow Romney to recast the debate about how to deal with health care going forward, an area where he will be able to draw effective contrasts with Obama. Yet it is also likely to keep the individual mandate in the news for a number of weeks.
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More Blog Posts by W. James Antle, III
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/04/11/romneycare-at-six
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Pete| 4.11.12 @ 10:43AM
Romney can recast the debate any way he chooses, but by hanging onto RomneyCare he loses me. The only thing worse than a democrat proposing socialism is having a republican doint it.
Scorpio51| 4.11.12 @ 11:24AM
Since Romney is really a Democrat, I can understand why he can't denounce it.
What I can't understand is why the RNC put out this man to be President when he encouraged Barack Obama to "go for the federal mandate."
That scares the hell out of me. Neither Romney or his wife Ann have denounced RomneyCare and that a clear sign he will replace ObamaCare on a national level if he wins the Presidency.
Occam's Tool| 4.11.12 @ 12:26PM
Romney is not going to stick his dick into that buzzsaw. Governing the US is different from governing Massholes.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 4.11.12 @ 12:31PM
Just more spite from Romney haters.
It actually gives Romney the opportunity to point out what is right and wrong with the program. It's also different from Obamacare in many ways, in particular the provision requiring that 80 to 85% of the premiums be spent on health care by the insurance companies. That's a sure road to bankruptcy for the insurance companies.
If the Supreme Court upholds Obamacare, those health insurance companies will be out of business by December of 2014, if even that long.
Eric | 4.11.12 @ 12:55PM
Maybe sometime this year Gov.Jerry Brown will celebrate Reagan liberalizing the abortion laws of California?
Drek| 4.11.12 @ 1:33PM
Do we really need additional stories about the weaknesses of a Romney campaign?
Do we really need to rehash what all of us conservatives have observed and commented on for half a year and more?
Contrary to the rather self-serving claims of Santorum, the race ISN'T going to turn exclusively on obamacare, and who is more able to pass some kind of purity test on obamacare and mandates.
It's not.
It's going to be all about the economy, and everything related thereto, from inflation to gas prices, to home values and declining disposable income.
Health care is surely going to be part of the contest between the two men and parties. To be sure.
But the issue is going to extend beyond obamacare and mandates, way beyond it.
Americans by vast numbers see the country on the wrong track.
Americans are losing confidence in the future.
Home loans and student loans are increasingly entering into arrears, if not actual default.
This economy sucks,
The prospects for ordinary Americans likewise suck.
So we don't need stories rehashing what we all knew about the vulnerabilities of our candidate.
The target is obama, no longer Romney.
donaldjohnsone| 4.12.12 @ 6:23AM
After the recent incident people think the only place an American in USA can be guaranteed appropriate medical care (at the top of the list/front of the line) is in prison but good alernative for now is "Penny Health" check it out