Remember when I argued that however much Mitt Romney may favor junking Obamacare, his health care record in Massachusetts — which he insists on standing by — will complicate either repealing or overturning the law? Well, on the very day the Obama administration paved the way for the Supreme Court to rule on Obamacare next year, Romney was reminding everybody about the Republican pedigree of the individual mandate.
Nevertheless, it seems to have hardened into conventional wisdom that health care is a non-problem for Romney. This is based on little more than Rick Perry’s dip and Romney’s recovery in the polls. Health care may not keep Romney from winning the nomination. Immigration, opposition to the Bush tax cuts, and numerous other sins didn’t sink John McCain in 2008. But the main reason Romney’s early frontrunner status has been jeopardized by a revolving door of conservative challengers, some of whom were virtually unknown on a national level before running against Romney, ought to be a sign that Mitt has problems.
To be sure, health care isn’t the only reason conservatives are uneasy with Romney. But anybody who thinks it is a total non-issue has either never talked to conservatives or is fooling himself.