the national interest

Obama: I Love Romneycare!

BOSTON - APRIL 12: Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney signs into law a new health care reform bill during a ceremony at Faneuil Hall April 12, 2006 in Boston, Massachusetts. U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) (2nd R) and others joined Romney for the signing of the bill, which makes Massachusetts the first state in the country to require that all residents have health insurance. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
I have never met these men before in my life! Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

I’ve been waiting for somebody in this campaign to tout the virtues of Mitt Romney’s health-care overhaul in Massachusetts, and that somebody has stepped forward — President Obama:

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[T]he guy I’m running against tried this in Massachusetts and it’s working just fine.

It’s not just fine — it’s a genuine political and policy feat. If you locked me in a room with an undecided voter and gave me five minutes to persuade him to vote for Romney, and if I failed you’d shoot me, I would spend most of the time talking about Romneycare. It’s his single best qualification for the presidency — without it, he’s an anodyne one-term governor. But Romney can’t talk about it because his party believes it’s evil. Which of course is the single best argument why he shouldn’t be elected president.

It’s not just fine — it’s a genuine political and policy feat. If you locked me in a room with an undecided voter and gave me five minutes to persuade him to vote for Romney, and if I failed you’d shoot me, I would spend most of the time talking about Romneycare. It’s his single best qualification for the presidency — without it, he’s an anodyne one-term governor. But Romney can’t talk about it because his party believes it’s evil. Which of course is the single best argument why he shouldn’t be elected president.

Obama: I Love Romneycare!