Waffling on Obamacare will Not Help Mitt Romney
Jules Witcover

In Mitt Romney's repeated efforts to convince conservative Republicans that he really is one of them, he has been no more unequivocal than in his full-throated embrace of the pledge to "repeal and replace Obamacare." But with the presidential nomination now in hand, leakage in the commitment is already visible.

Appearing Sunday on NBC News' "Meet the Press," Romney acknowledged that, if elected, he would retain some of the most popular elements in the president's Affordable Care Act. "Well, I'm not getting rid of all of health care reform," he offered. "Of course there are a number of things that I like ... that I'm going to put in place."

Lo and behold, he said that he will "make sure that those with pre-existing conditions can get coverage" and will "assure that the marketplace allows for individuals to have policies that cover their family up to whatever age they might like. I also want individuals to be able to buy insurance, health insurance, on their own as opposed to only being able to get it on a tax-advantaged basis through their company."

Well, doesn't all this sound very much like Obamacare without Obama? Or what one Republican wag during the primaries sarcastically referred to as the "Romneycare" that the former Massachusetts governor enacted in the Bay State, together with the individual mandate he now allegedly opposes?

The Romney campaign quickly issued a clarification that its candidate was not changing his position on coverage for pre-existing medical conditions. A spokesman said he had always favored it -- provided a person already had health insurance when such pre-existing condition required treatment. Others, however, might have the impression that Romney was trying to cherry-pick the most popular features of Obama's reform, the ones likely to win the president support for his re-election in November.

Post-convention public opinion polls have indicated that Romney got little boost from his personality-pitching in Tampa, and that Obama got more out of his show in Charlotte featuring Bill Clinton. The president is said now to have a slight lead, especially in key swing states. In seeking to counter that impression, Romney needs to guard against the flip-flop allegations that have haunted his candidacy from the start.

The Obama campaign was quick to characterize Romney as dissembling on his commitment to throw out Obamacare and replace it presumably with a clean health-care reform plan of his own. As Peter Finley Dunne's Mr. Dooley wisely said, politics ain't beanbag, and Romney should have learned by now to be more careful not to feed the opposition new lines of attack.

With the two national party conventions having occurred later in the election cycle than usual, the period between them and the first presidential debates is also shorter than it has been in the past. The careful nominee will want to say or do nothing to give his opponent any new target that can be exploited in the first, and probably most heavily watched, debate, which is scheduled for Oct. 3, barely three weeks away.

The Republicans' pledge to repeal and replace Obamacare has been a major unifying theme from the start. But it no longer is the GOP's -- or Romney's -- best argument against Obama now that the Supreme Court has upheld the law. If the president is to be defeated, the state of the economy will be the determining factor.

Romney's blip on the question of coverage for pre-existing medical conditions may soon pass, but not if the Democrats can help it. Romney can ill afford to spend much time now clarifying what he meant, when he needs to stay on the offensive against the president, pointing out the stalled economy and high unemployment rate that continue to imperil Obama's bid for a second term.

As time winds down to the first debate in Denver, both party nominees will engage in mock debates with stand-in opponents to prepare for questions likely to be raised in the real encounters. Romney had better have his position on Obamacare honed to a clear and defensible one by then, or he will risk another hit on his steadfastness to "repeal and replace."

 

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Waffling on Obamacare will Not Help Mitt Romney | Politics

 

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