With the passage of the historic healthcare bill last night, it also did two things effectively to two very influential candidates on the right. It ended their chances of running for President in 2012.
Mitt Romney was planning on running as a technocrat. Someone who could fix things and get things done and he was trying ever so hard to not flip flop, as that would be what he would be known for. He stated he could fix healthcare much in the same way he fixed it in MA. Unfortunately, President Obama passed a bill that was designed pretty much with that in mind. That bill is now law. With a highly conservative base with very little moderates, what's Mitt Romney forced to do? Flip-flop.
Romney, one of the frontrunners to challenge Obama in 2012, later in the post called for a repeal of what he framed as a “historic usurpation of the legislative process.”
Romney had been laying low during much of the health care debate – since as governor he provided his residents with near universal coverage using many of the same policies Democrats enacted – making his call for repeal particularly notable.
So, Mitt Romney has become what he didn't want to become. Trust me, he's dead in the water in 2012.
Here's Greg Sargeant at the Plum Line: Mitt Romney in a box
This latest from Romney is worth dwelling on because it rather neatly illustrates the box he finds himself in. Romney is feverishly working to downplay the similarities between Romneycare and Obamacare because he needs to appeal to the GOP base as he positions himself for the 2012 primaries. Hence his increasingly strident rhetoric about Obama’s plan.
But every time Romney does this, Dems — and soon enough, his GOP opponents — will point out that he signed a similar plan into law himself. This, in turn, will force Romney to spend time explaining why his plan isn’t like Obama’s, despite all the obvious similiarities.
And the sight of Romney doing all that ’splaining will only remind folks of all the ’splaining he did last time around on abortion and other matters, feeding the narrative that helped do him in last time: He’s ideologically opportunistic and malleable.
As for Bobby Jindal, another so-called "rising star" of the Republican party. Included in that Senate bill is something called the "Louisiana Purchase" which gives Louisiana extra money in terms to pay for medicaid. It is extremely unpopular with the conservative base of the republican party. It was thought that Mary Landrieu was the one who had requested such money. It was actually requested by Bobby Jindal. Landrieu provides email showing Jindal requested the money
Landrieu took the rare step of releasing a Sept. 16, 2009 e-mail from the Jindal administration to the state’s congressional delegation. In the e-mail from Julia Kenny, chief of staff for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, Kenny urges the delegation to “make our case” for an effort similar to one undertaken by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to secure Medicaid funds for Nevada.
The e-mail also said Louisiana officials were working to secure the Medicaid money from the Department of Health and Human Services for the money to repair what the state viewed as a flawed calculation under the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) program.
“We will be working on a joint statement with Gov. Jindal and [HHS] Secretary [Kathleen] Sebelius to say they are working on the FMAP issue and asking Congress to solve it,” Kenny wrote. “That’s huge, if the commitment does lead to follow-through. Once there is agreement, then we will draft a statement for the delegation’s consideration applauding the secretary and administration for recognizing the problem and working with Congress to solve it. Thank you.”
Interestingly enough, the reconciliation bill eliminates all of the special deals within the Senate legislation...with the exception of the Louisiana purchase.
It's almost as if it its passage was planned to embarrass both of those individuals. 11th Dimensional Chess?
UPDATE: Looks Romney wasn't content on that statement and made another at a book signing in La Jolla, CA near his "Vacation Home" (How many homes does he have?) Romney HC Bill
Former Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney says President Barack Obama's new health care bill is unconstitutional, deserves to be repealed and will help cost the Democrat a second term.
The former Massachusetts governor made the remarks Monday after signing nearly 1,000 copies of his new book, "No Apology: The Case for American Greatness," at a bookstore near his La Jolla, Calif., vacation home.
Romney says the bill passed by the House late Sunday is unconstitutional because it interferes with interstate commerce. He says it needs to be repealed in part because it was passed without bipartisan support.
I highlighted the stupid part. Repealed because it's not bipartisan and since Mitt Romney is a Constitutional Lawyer, he knows it "interferes with the Commerce Clause." Any Cases to back that up with?