Healthcare: A defining issue for Republicans

Whether Obamacare passes or fails this weekend one thing is certain: healthcare will be THE defining issue of the November elections. Republicans are expected to pick up seats by the score, as the country rebels against government over-reach. In fact our own Scott Brown was elected with the same political backdrop that will exist in the fall. In fact, if Obamacare passes, the political landscape should be even MORE condusive to Republicans.

While this dynamic plays out across the country, and will play out in Massachusetts as well, the Republicans are not nearly as well positioned on the issue here in MA, despite what Scott Brown’s victory might indicate. The problem for Republicans is that Massachusetts has a very similar healthcare structure as Obamacare, it is bankrupting the state, and its enactment was driven by Republican Governor Mitt Romney. A wide variety of MA Republicans have supported the effort, including Scott Brown and Charlie Baker. While such support may have been necessary in a bastion of liberalism that is Massachusetts, it certainly negates the issue for these candidates. Republicans must stand for smaller government ALL THE TIME.

So now we have the very odd dynamic of Independent candidate Tim Cahill moving to the right of Charlie Baker, and claiming RomneyCare is poised to bankrupt the state and is a bad idea. Is that going to resonate with voters in November? Absolutely, particularly if articles such as this keep popping up throughout the summer.

My advice to Charlie Baker is to come out forcefully, NOW, against RomneyCare. If he waits much longer, Tim Cahill will have locked up the issue, and it will be impossible for Charlie to move in that direction without looking like a follower on the issue.

My advice to Mitt Romney is similar – if he is running for President in 2012, he MUST get the RomneyCare albatross off his neck. He must step up and admit a major mistake in policy. By the 2012 election, the reversal of opinion will be old news. And Scott Brown, who voted for RomneyCare, should do likewise before he is up for reelection agains as well.

There is a core set of principles that define Republicans. If Massachusetts Republicans pick and chose those princples on an ‘a la carte’, advocating for governement control of healthcare, for example, they leave themselves open to charges of inconsistency in philosophy. That is what Mitt Romney did, and he may not be able to recover from it. Charlie Baker on the other hand was not in a position to vote on RomneyCare, and can still define his position. He had better chose the path consistent with Republican principles before Tim Cahill leverages the inconsistency into the Governors office.

Author: Mark