Mitt Romney gets "thanks" from Dems for health care reform inspiration

AP

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney jumped into the 2012 presidential race today with a video that reminds voters of one of his greatest strengths as a candidate: his economic credentials. Democrats, meanwhile, are busy reminding voters of one of his biggest weaknesses as a candidate in the Republican presidential primary: his association with health care reform.

Democratic officials in key primary states are holding "celebrations" this week to mark the fifth-year anniversary of the health care plan Romney implemented in Massachusetts.

The White House has said the nation has Romney to thank for inspiring the president's health care overhaul. The administration has called the Massachusetts plan the "template" for its national reforms and even recruited a top Massachusetts health care administrator to help establish the new, nationwide changes. The comparison, of course, has proven to be a liability for Romney as the primaries draw near and as Romney continues to criticize Mr. Obama's health care reforms. The nationwide reforms are still controversial and especially unpopular with Republican voters.

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So it was clearly tongue-in-cheek when the New Hampshire Democratic Party announced that tomorrow, politicians and health care advocates will hold an event to "thank Romney for providing the critical momentum necessary to get President Obama's vision of health reform through Congress and signed into law."

"Mitt Romney is nothing short of a founding father of modern health reform," reads a press release from the state party, "a person who has left an indelible mark on Massachusetts' health care reform as well as the national health reform law and its major elements, including the individual responsibility provision which is critical to making the law work and lowering costs for all who enter the system."

The "individual responsibility" element of the national reform package is one of the most heavily-criticized aspects of the president's plan and is the focus of multiple court challenges.

The Tuesday event in Concord will feature over-sized thank you card as well a birthday cake to mark the anniversary of Romney's plan.

Democrats in Iowa are holding a similar event at a children's furniture and accessories shop called Simply for Giggles, the Des Moines Register reports. The owner of the store has shared her story with the press about her struggle to obtain health care.

New Hampshire and Iowa are among the earliest states to hold presidential nominating contests and will prove critical in the Republican primaries. Romney's video today announcing his presidential exploratory committee was filmed in New Hampshire.

The Democratic National Committee says on its blog that other states are holding their own events to mark the anniversary of Romney's plan. It says the Massachusetts reforms "helped blaze a trail for progressive reform" and points out that Romney stood by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, a liberal icon, as he signed the state reforms into law.

The DNC is encouraging its supporters to tweet, "Thanks @mittromney, founding father of health care reform, on its 5th bday! B/c of you, nat'l health care reform is a reality! #fitn #TYMitt."

Romney's camp has pushed back against the "celebrations." Referring to New Hampshire's event, complete with cake, senior Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom told CNN that "somehow I'm not surprised that Democrats are sitting around eating cake while 14 million unemployed Americans are struggling to put food on their table."

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2012 Contenders: Strengths and Weaknesses

[Zann-Zel]

If Romney was smart he'd embrace the fact that he's the "founding father of healthcare reform". But they're all so busy pointing fingers and not wanting anyone to think someone on their side came up with the very idea they are now criticizing!

[jimbom121]

But he is more of a panderer than smart.

[srpatterso]

Interesting how people attempt to make his Massachusetts experiment in health care a negative.

I see it as a positive.

In this debate, he is the only one with the first hand experience and empirical evidence showing that government-run health care DOESN'T WORK.

[jimbom121]

The people of Massachusetts think it works.

[Zann-Zel]

Really? Did Massachusetts declare bankruptcy? Did everyone in Massachusetts die? How do you figure it "doesn't work"?

[tsigili]

The citizens of this country are not thanking Romney. Health care costs have skyrocketed, since the passage of ObamaCare, which does absolutely NOTHING to contain health care costs.

[recoveringRepub]

That's some propaganda you are saying since hardly anything has kicked into effect of the Obama-care. But I know, you were rushed as you spread those lies; you needed to get to church.

[cktirumalai]

Mitt Romney will have a hard time with the conservative base of the Republican party over his identification with health care in Massachusetts, despite his defence that he would give states a much a larger role if formulating health care plans.
His other worry is his Mormonism: he will do well in states which have a significant Mormon presence, like Nevada and Utah of course, but evangelical Christians have expressed reservations about his candidacy (shades of John Kennedy and Catholicism 50 years ago). To compound his difficulties he may have a rival in his fellow-Mormon Huntsman.
That said, he is among the leading heavy-weight GOP candidates, not least because of his background in business and practical economics.
Candadai Tirumalai

[nearl451]

AND if Romney had had the cajones to provide some socialist cost controls in his plan, maybe the bought off Congress would have felt more comfortable supporting a Federal plan with some cost controls, instead of a giveway to private ins co's AND MedPharma, which is what both plans turned out to be....mostly.

[LeansDem]

Maybe somebody at CBS News should report the fact that, despite all his rhetoric about his economic credentials, when Romney was governor of Massachusetts, he had one of the worst economic records of any governor in the country. See http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/07/29/romneys_economic_record/

During his tenure, Massachusetts ranked 47th out of 50 states in job creation. See http://www.marketwatch.com/story/mitt-romney-tries-to-play-the-jobs-card-2010-02-23

And by the end of his four years in office, Massachusetts had squeezed out a net gain in payroll jobs of just 1 percent, compared with job growth of 5.3 percent for the nation as a whole. See http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/myrtle_beach_blarney.html