muzzled dogg
03-01-2011, 11:40 AM
Five ways Mitt can cure himself of RomneyCare
MAGGIE HABERMAN | 3/1/11 10:35 AM
• HILLARY’S PLAYBOOK. Follow Clinton's model on her Iraq war vote – slowly and steadily move away from it until you're completely at odds with the plan by the time voting starts
• THE SPEECH. Give a major, detailed speech or TV interview admitting the health care plan was a big mistake.
• IT’S DIFFERENT. Emphasize several points from RomneyCare that are different from Obama’s plan, tout them as a successes, then pivot to the economy.
• CLAM UP. Say he wouldn't do it again, in passing, then stick to that brief answer every time the question comes up until reporters get bored.
• BLAME GAME. Pin its failures on Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick's botched implementation.
Mitt Romney has several escape routes out of the “RomneyCare” trap he’s facing – a dilemma similar to Hillary Clinton’s problem in 2008 with her vote authorizing the war in Iraq, analysts and strategists told POLITICO.
The experts offered up their prescriptions for Romney to blunt criticism over his health care plan, which he’s been pounded for by Mike Huckabee and others. On Monday, the problem Romney’s facing was highlighted again when the plan received praise from President Obama – not helpful in a GOP primary.
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So far, Romney has given a tortured response to criticisms that it was the basis for President Obama’s health care plan – trying not to seem like a flip-flopper while still appealing to his party’s conservative base, which will largely decide the Republican nominee.
“Hillary had a very similar calculus,” said Dan Gerstein, a Democratic strategist currently with Gotham Ghostwriters.
He was referring to Clinton’s problem of having to disavow her Iraq war vote to appease liberals during the primary against Obama, while not looking fitting into a perception people had of her – that she was too politically expedient.
Romney’s “only prayer of winning the primary is that he convinces the ‘reasonable’ wing of the party – which is albeit shrinking – that he is the only one with a prayer of winning the general (election),” Gerstein said. “And that prayer rests on independents not thinking he’s a weasel.”
He added, “If I were advising him, I’d tell him that he has to say what he believes and own it either way ... I actually think he should stick with his current line, but just give a fuller, bigger explanation.”
After days of being poked by Huckabee on the issue, and in the former Arkansas governor’s new book, a Romney aide said the potential candidate is “proud” of what RomneyCare accomplished but that what works in states doesn’t work nationally. From there, he slammed ObamaCare.
A longtime Democratic strategist said Romney ought to pick a couple of key ways in which his plan is different than what Obama is doing “and say they are not the same, and stick with the accomplishment.”
“I would probably put it within the context of cost,” the strategist added. “Not coverage. In other words, ‘Middle class and businesses are getting slammed by health care costs. I reduced costs but without hurting businesses.’ ObamaCare is a Big Government program that hurts the economy. That’s the difference between us.’“
“If I were advising Romney, I would tell him, ‘You need to come to Jesus (on this), you need to figure this out because you can’t finesse it. You either kill it or don’t,’” said Florida-based GOP strategist Rick Wilson.
Wilson said Romney should give a major speech and say that Romneycare “opened the door” for ObamaCare, and be as blunt as possible, saying, “I was trying to do good and I ended up making a giant error.”
Another GOP strategist said Romney needed to poll-test how closely identified with health care he is for Republican primary voters, and could do a TV interview making those same points, then pivot from there to "jobs, jobs, jobs."
Kevin Madden, an adviser to Romney’s 2008 campaign, dismissed the critiques, said health care will be a “major part” of the 2012 debate, but not the only issue.
“The folks who think that every challenge can be overcome by delivering a speech or giving an interview are usually in the business of writing speeches and conducting interviews,” he added.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/50408.html
MAGGIE HABERMAN | 3/1/11 10:35 AM
• HILLARY’S PLAYBOOK. Follow Clinton's model on her Iraq war vote – slowly and steadily move away from it until you're completely at odds with the plan by the time voting starts
• THE SPEECH. Give a major, detailed speech or TV interview admitting the health care plan was a big mistake.
• IT’S DIFFERENT. Emphasize several points from RomneyCare that are different from Obama’s plan, tout them as a successes, then pivot to the economy.
• CLAM UP. Say he wouldn't do it again, in passing, then stick to that brief answer every time the question comes up until reporters get bored.
• BLAME GAME. Pin its failures on Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick's botched implementation.
Mitt Romney has several escape routes out of the “RomneyCare” trap he’s facing – a dilemma similar to Hillary Clinton’s problem in 2008 with her vote authorizing the war in Iraq, analysts and strategists told POLITICO.
The experts offered up their prescriptions for Romney to blunt criticism over his health care plan, which he’s been pounded for by Mike Huckabee and others. On Monday, the problem Romney’s facing was highlighted again when the plan received praise from President Obama – not helpful in a GOP primary.
Continue Reading
So far, Romney has given a tortured response to criticisms that it was the basis for President Obama’s health care plan – trying not to seem like a flip-flopper while still appealing to his party’s conservative base, which will largely decide the Republican nominee.
“Hillary had a very similar calculus,” said Dan Gerstein, a Democratic strategist currently with Gotham Ghostwriters.
He was referring to Clinton’s problem of having to disavow her Iraq war vote to appease liberals during the primary against Obama, while not looking fitting into a perception people had of her – that she was too politically expedient.
Romney’s “only prayer of winning the primary is that he convinces the ‘reasonable’ wing of the party – which is albeit shrinking – that he is the only one with a prayer of winning the general (election),” Gerstein said. “And that prayer rests on independents not thinking he’s a weasel.”
He added, “If I were advising him, I’d tell him that he has to say what he believes and own it either way ... I actually think he should stick with his current line, but just give a fuller, bigger explanation.”
After days of being poked by Huckabee on the issue, and in the former Arkansas governor’s new book, a Romney aide said the potential candidate is “proud” of what RomneyCare accomplished but that what works in states doesn’t work nationally. From there, he slammed ObamaCare.
A longtime Democratic strategist said Romney ought to pick a couple of key ways in which his plan is different than what Obama is doing “and say they are not the same, and stick with the accomplishment.”
“I would probably put it within the context of cost,” the strategist added. “Not coverage. In other words, ‘Middle class and businesses are getting slammed by health care costs. I reduced costs but without hurting businesses.’ ObamaCare is a Big Government program that hurts the economy. That’s the difference between us.’“
“If I were advising Romney, I would tell him, ‘You need to come to Jesus (on this), you need to figure this out because you can’t finesse it. You either kill it or don’t,’” said Florida-based GOP strategist Rick Wilson.
Wilson said Romney should give a major speech and say that Romneycare “opened the door” for ObamaCare, and be as blunt as possible, saying, “I was trying to do good and I ended up making a giant error.”
Another GOP strategist said Romney needed to poll-test how closely identified with health care he is for Republican primary voters, and could do a TV interview making those same points, then pivot from there to "jobs, jobs, jobs."
Kevin Madden, an adviser to Romney’s 2008 campaign, dismissed the critiques, said health care will be a “major part” of the 2012 debate, but not the only issue.
“The folks who think that every challenge can be overcome by delivering a speech or giving an interview are usually in the business of writing speeches and conducting interviews,” he added.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/50408.html