Washington (CNN) - Top Obama advisor David Axelrod, who left the White House last week to lay the groundwork for the president's reelection campaign, is already needling a potential Republican rival.
In an interview with USA Today, Axelrod goes out of his way to credit Mitt Romney for implementing a universal health care plan when he was governor of Massachusetts that shares many similarities with the White House-backed law that has proved so unpopular with Republicans.
"We got some good ideas from him," said Axelrod in a clear effort to highlight Romney's involvement with implementing a law similar to that which is so disliked among Republicans nationwide.
Romney has stood by the 2006 implementation of universal health care in Massachusetts, but has said it was drafted to address Massachusetts's problems, no those of the entire nation.
As for the Republican field as a whole, Axelrod said it is the "most unfathomable… of my lifetime."
"I don't think anybody in the media or in either party can tell you with any degree of certainty who the Republican nominee will be," he said.
From CNN Politics
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Ouch. That is very clever. Romney thinks he is the gift to Americans but really he is more of a hypocrite than people are aware regarding health care.
Tough one for Romney, but then again he is the King of Waffling. If ever elected there will be a high percentage of things he will do the opposite of what he said he would do while trying to get elected. Not a man to be trusted. Opportunist only, not a leader.
Flip-Flop-Flip-Flop! Romney the flip-flopping carpetbagger. Hey Mitt, how many states have you needed to move to in order to achieve your goals besides Michigan, Utah and Massachusetts? Why do you say things one way when addressing Northern crowds, a different way with Southern crowds and a completely different third way with Western crowds? Don't you realize that people in all parts of the country read what you have said and have decided you are a hypocrite in a slick package?
Based on the popular vote, I would say the ideas gleaned from Romney, are not at all popular, because the majority of the public, didn't like ObamaCare at all.
That makes Axlerod, a fool, or an accomplice to dictatorship, one.
Don't blame Romney for the Massachusetts Mess – blame the hopeless and overwhelming demcratic control of the Massachusetts State legislature.
It doesn't say much for Axelrod to "praise" such a losing proposition as the MA law... and turn around and try to place that onus on the rest of the country.
Does everybody in the Country need a baby sitter? Hard work and git up and go made this country great not big Government Programs. They used to say, someone has to make the Trains run on time. Today it is someone has to put the goceries on the shelves. It doesn't just happen by magic. If you get a hand out from someone else, read that Tax payers, someone else has to do the dirty work to make it happen. When Obama and Axel so nd so is gone we will still have a 15 to 25 trillion dollar federal debt to deal with. Is anybody listening???
No other country in the world that has accessible healthcare has done it without having the entire country having coverage. If you seperate it to states you will have nothing but a mess and it has been proven that the only way to have accessible healthcare for everyone, is to mandate that the whole country participate. Romney will never get past the one good thing he did which was healthcare, and now it is ironic that the best thing he ever did is what is hated most by Republicans.There are many happy and healthy countries that have mandated healthcare and the US is on the "worst Healthcare Access" list and it is high time to unite and move forward with healthcare reform.
Way to go Axelrod! Attack the candidate with any chance of drawing enough moderate votes to beat Obama... This is a sign that they see him as their biggest threat.
"Axelrod needles Romney on health care"...................so, basically, he is "needling" him by making fun of government healthcare, Obama's only claim to fame? Brilliant!
Repeal of Health Care reform is a total idiotic, and brainlessness.,...This nation needs this health care law....law kicks in 2014, sate run exchanges act as public Option....listen...do not repeal....if you do so, it is a detriment to GOP thugs election in 2014.....I am telling...I am a law grad...truth teller...o.k, This nation needs Health care reform and Fin. Reg. Reform.....o.k...just ignore GOP thugs....keep the nation moving forward...not backward....o.k....just now economy is reeling to good reports...keep it up...obama, we love you......go for obama 2012!!!!!!
So BOTH of them are idiots! But there is a MAJOR difference in that requiring healthcare is NOT a power granted to the federal government by the Constitution. What is not granted to the federal government by the Constitution IS RESERVED TO THE STATES. So Romney was within his legal power to do it, but the wisdom of doing it is another matter. Now Massachusetts has a healthcare fiasco that the Democrats wish to inflict on the entire country. Stupid Democrats just want to play their stupid little child games with this issue. I doubt they'll ever grown up.
Romney admits that the health plan did not work. Did the White House get that message??? No. Some people learn from their mistakes. Others are doomed to repeat them.
"It doesn't say much for Axelrod to "praise" such a losing proposition as the MA law... and turn around and try to place that onus on the rest of the country."
It's chess, not checkers genius. Axelrod is playing a game of brigsmanship that will back Mittens into a corner trying to defend the MA law. Keep your friends and your enemies closer.
It is with a high degree of pompous self-righteousness that Romey would deride the very health program that he signed into law in Mass. No matter how you address it, the similarities of Romney Care and Obama Care are strickingly similar. It is just another example of the Republican mindset; if it's a Democratic program, say NO. No matter how good that program may be, just say no. The Republicans didn't get the Party of No moniker for nothing.
On another note, I find it interesting that all the losers of the last election are jockeying into place to run again. No new names have dominated the process in two years. Sure, there are a lot of new Repubs who look like they're ready to run, but all the old losers are getting the nod from the Republican voters in recent polls. Interesting
Axelrod is a Nut. He and BHO are two peas in a pod. While Romney tried the healthcare plan, I think he sees now that it was a total disaster. One state trying it is a good way to see if it's right for the country. They need to see the example as a failure and repeal this massive takeover of our healthcare.
@Ray E.: And you're the first person to whine about needing a tax cut. Which is a hand-out; someone in this country has to pay for things. You are against actually paying taxes. Shush it.
@ Rick McDaniel: Popular poling shows that a majority of Americans LIKE HCR when it is explained what it actually does. The only thing that is UNPOPULAR is the so-called "Mandate," which is A REPUBLICAN IDEA. Senators Bob Dole and Orrin Hatch (YES THAT ORRIN HATCH) proposed the "Mandate" in 1994. What "Obamacare" actually is, is the Republican Healthcare Alternative to Clinton's Healthcare Bill in 1994. Shut your pie hole.
And to address Romney, he's for it before he's against it. He says its because it was "not meant to be a National Solution." Sorry, but we have state-by-state regulation of the HC industry now. It doesn't work and prices have steadily increased. Propose a solution instead of demonizing the one that you created.
Fair is Fair says: "Don't blame Romney for the Massachusetts Mess – blame the hopeless and overwhelming demcratic control of the Massachusetts State legislature."
Sorry, Fair, but Romney was the Governor. One stroke of his veto pen would have stopped the Massachusetts Health Care bill from passing. The "overwhelming demcratic control of the Massachusetts State legislature" wrote a good healthcare bill for it's people, and Romney agreed with it. Now he derides the health care laws he supported in his own state. Hypocritical at best.
Axelrod is such a nitwit. Whoever the GOP has in 2012 is a shoo in. Obabamacare will be hung around OBs neck like an albatross, and Mitt and all of the other GOPs will be laughing as they repeal that unconstitutional mess in Jan. 2013, whe the GOP will hold the House, Senate and White House. If OB was smart he would insist on repeal and then do it correctly, but I am glad he is still trying to defend it. This way it is a win-win for the country. GOP in the White House in 2012 and ObamaCar, tossed in the trash.
Romney's plan is more leftist than Obama's. First Slick Mitt brags and boasts about how great his govt-run healthcare plans is.
Now all of sudden he is playing games and pretending it wasn't his plan after all. I wouldn't trust Mitt to watch my pets, yet alone run the White House. Especially considering how he tied his dog to the roof of his car while driving in the freezing cold.
Romney is such a hypocrite. He thinks he is Gods gift to the USA. I think his ego is on a par with Trumps. Too bad Romney talks out of both sides of his mouth. He lost last time and he will lose again. Hes a rich pretty boy..thats it. Full of sound and fury and signifying absolutely nothing!
Good to see that SOMEONE in the Obama camp is nolonger constricted to playing by the rules while the other team totally ignores them.
Guess what guys? You shoot , we shoot back!
And I meant that metaphorically, lest anyone from either side of the aisle gets their feathers ruffled...as if I cared.
I agree with Indy. Well said.
You know some of these folks on her are brain DEAD...... The same fools that are telling America No to health Care. The GOP!!!. Are all paying for them and there family to have the best Health Care there is. Grow UP!!!And then they say BIG GOVERnment LORD HELP...It has always been BIG GOVERnment. They told Black they were 3.5 of a person.Dam folks!!! Now this black man is in office and it's a problem. When the other race has been running things it was fine to keep everything to there self's. Even there slave's BIG GOVERment . That's what it was and still is. Go OBAMA expose what the slave masters did to this country. That's why they hate you.
"I don't think anybody in the media or in either party can tell you with any degree of certainty who the Republican nominee will be," he said.
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But who will the Democratic nominee be? After Americans had their say in November it seems fairly certain they will finish the job in 2012. Heck, Obama is still clinging to ObamaCare in spite of higher accelerating health care costs and a clear rejection of it across America.
Mitt Romney will crush obama in the 2012 Presidential Election. obama is weak and inexperienced. This President hopey changey thing he sold America just isn't working, and hasn't worked. He will be a one term President and the American people will be much better off without him.
Romney has flip-flopped on all of the big issues of today: health care, abortion, gun rights, gay rights, pardons and even in the 90's he claimed he was not a fan of Ronald Reagan. Now, if you believe him, he is all things Reagan. Also, everyone of his flips just happen to be politically expedient. (He also states he is a big hunter, when he's not.) This guy is a complete phony. Repubs have always used the "flip-flop" as a measuring stick. We will see if it really is.
Romney – Voted most likely to abuse a dog (for those who do not know the background story of Romney and his family pet – go look it up, its a doozie). The guy is a complete joke. I live in New England, and have watched the Romney ticket now at least once. Nobody from this area gives a rats-butt about him, and besides healthcare, did very little for his state (but put it more in debt). Fact is, he didn't have a chance last time and he doesn't have much of a chance this time – no matter who is running with him. Too many conservatives as well that do not like that he is Mormon. He's not as radical right as most in the GOP hope he could be. And could someone tell me what he does for work besides run for political office?
To Ray from Georgia,
If you're so against Big Government, why aren't you screaming about farm subsidies? That's big government intruding on our food production and thus controlling what we eat. We drink soda because corn syrup is sweet. We eat cereal because wheat is cheap. Are you going to rail against farm subsidies? How about corporate welfare? Mandates that the government buys medicine's without negotiating for lower prices?
Where were you when Regan and Bush 1 were running up the debt and deficit up at levels never before imagined? I suppose you were praising Clinton when he and the Republican congress were able to get a budget surplus and start paying down the debt while seeing tons of job growth. Did you say anything when Bush's tax cuts came in and returned us to HUGE DEFICITS?
I have a feeling you talk a good game about the debt, but the truth is you don't actually care about the debt or America. You are just a sock puppet with Dick Morris' hand so far up your 'sock', that you don't even realize that you are part of the problem.
Let's stop demonizing Democrats and acting as if Republicans haven't been not only complicit but an active participant of graft and greed to get pet projects and jobs for their district or their priorities. Instead, let's talk about who can get us out of this mess, and start praising the right people. Like Ron Paul, for example.
Romney has seen the error of his ways. This proves he is smart and can adapt in making executive decisions. Obummie is either too stupid to see what a mistake Obuumie care is or he is truly a socialist determined to undermining our country's core principles. It is probably the latter. Luckily the court system will take care of his socialist agenda.
It is not needling if you only state the facts.
It is Romney doing the flip flopping by saying he was for universal health care in MA before he was against universal health care for all Americans, which as patterned after the plan in MA.
And the purchase "mandate" was a con idea back during the Clinton years when cons were protecting their constitutes, big business.
Ray E. (Georgia) what you are failing to grasp is Health Care is NOT a hand out. Its a universal right. Its not Welfare.. its not a people not wanting to work but still wanting to get paid.. its people wanting a right to get or qualify for treatment, in a very corporatized Health industry that is run by Insurance companies. I doubt this qualifies as "someone having to make the trains run on time". This are basic core life principals... we all have a right to be healthy, and if you dont believe in that, then i cant wait for someone in YOUR family to become deftly ill with no means of covering the health costs.
Huntsman will be the Manchurian Candidate the republicans try to weasel in. Wait and see. Read up on him. He's truly looking for a 4 or 6 term presidency. Huntsman, people. Remember the republcan name.
Romneycare, the gift that keeps on giving! I can hear his followers now, blame the democratic government but not the governor who signed it.......please! Had Romney been running in 2010 for anything, the tea party would have treated him like the Bennett in Utah. Romney is done, the GOTP needs a viable candidate and the ones who they have are clueless! Everything they are yelling about "what Obama wants to do" is the SAME thing their leaders have done and continue to do. It's hard to admit when you've been played just like the right says about Obama, just like the left says about the GOP. Face it, when the other 41% of registered voters go out to vote in 2012......"the voter's have spoken" so deal with the results and find a new way to reinvent youself.
We have a start with getting more people covered. The problem is that we don't have enough doctors, nurses and other medical professionals. If we had more of them and less of a need for medical/dental/mental health insurances, we might be better off. The idea behind this program is get more people eligible for health insurance so that more people can get regular check ups and not cost a bundle when the end up at the ER where the state and federal government has to pick up the cost.
@ Rick McDaniel
that's what happens when you get most of your "facts" from FoxNews and turn a deaf ear to everything else. Truth is that the so-called "ObamaCare" is more popular than you think once the truth about it and what it offers has come out. Mitt needs to stop running from HC reform and man up like Palin says stand behind his product. Either defend it or say it was a total mistake he regrets.
I never heard the Republicans attack Romeny during the time he installed healthcare in his State of Massachussetts and Romney has always been a Republican.
Axelrod is a major....ROD. A cabalist if there evr was one. Then again, Romney is CFR, too!
Don't blame the messenger here. Romney did what he did. Now he has to own up to it or find a slick way to get around it. This guy can not be considered serious Presidential material. He is just a good looking guy who would be great a selling cars. Not much more there folks . . . Sounds like the perfect Republican candidate to me.
Why does anyone see a person who's total amount of actual experience as an elected offical amounts to less than 18 months more than Sarah Palin's as presidential material? Did any of his business ventures result in a new product being created, or hordes of manufacturing jobs being created?
The answer to the second question is no and nothing. Romney made money for investors at the expense of the jobs of working people, then pocketed his millions and moved on. His tenure as governor resulted in a contortionist's act of waffling which should make anyone suspicious, and he never put himself back up in front of the voters of his state to see if he met their litmus test. His willingness to bail on Massachusetts after one term was not the noble act of a Washington, but the crass motives of a politician who wanted the only other executive job he feels is worthy of him. He is, to paraphrase a 19'th century politican describing Jefferson Davis, as ambitious as Lucifer.
And don't forget, he also belongs to what is called a cult by just about every other Republican/Tea Party member in the country! How will they reconcile his LDS membership with their personal beliefs?