Tuesday, March 30, 2010

of course, it's only ok when a repug does it

RomneyCare ‘Sort Of Similar’ To ObamaCare, But Only Obama Will Acknowledge It

In an interview with President Obama today, NBC’s Matt Lauer wondered how the historic health care reform legislation that Obama signed last week “could be good for the American public in general when it didn’t receive one single Republican vote.” Obama responded by noting “that the Republican party made a calculated decision, a political decision, that they would not support whatever we did.” He then added that the bill “incorporates all sorts of Republican ideas” and is similar to what Mitt Romney did in Massachusetts:

OBAMA: And I think that’s unfortunate because when you actually look at the bill itself, it incorporates all sorts of Republican ideas. I mean a lot of commentators have said this is sort of similar to the bill that Mitt Romney, the Republican governor and now presidential candidate, passed in Massachusetts. A lot of the ideas in terms of the exchange, just being able to pool and improve the purchasing power of individuals in the insurance market. That originated from the Heritage Foundation and…

Noting the “middle of the road, centrist approach” of the reform legislation, Obama said that he was “frustrated that Republicans” who “had an opportunity to help shape this bill declined that opportunity.” “The overall architecture of it was actually something that was right down the middle,” said Obama.

(Think Progress)
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I'm glad that Obama is stressing that this reform was very centrist and middle of the road and far from extreme. Hell, it didn't even include highly popular programs like the public option, so it isn't exactly radical.