Ask Mitt Romney how he can condemn "Obamacare," which was modeled after "Romneycare," and the standard response you will receive is that it was the right thing to do for the state of Massachusetts, but the wrong thing to do for the entire nation.
For the most part, Romney has maintained that line of defense, but now he's backtracking and claiming that he wouldn't recommend his own healthcare plan to other states either.
Romney’s latest remarks came after a question from the Washington Examiner’s Byron York in an editorial meeting, who asked how many other states should adopt the law.
“In its entirety, not very many,” Romney replied. “Because it’s not even perfect for Massachusetts. At the time we created it, I vetoed several measures and said these, I think, are mistakes, and you in Massachusetts will find you have to correct them over time. But that’s the nature of a piece of legislation of this nature. You’ll see what works, what doesn’t, and you’ll make the changes. But they have not made those changes, and in some cases they made things worse. So I wouldn’t encourage any state to adopt it in total.”
Massachusetts currently has the lowest percentage of uninsured persons in the nation, so it's hardly fair to say things have become worse in the wake of Romneycare.
Mitt Romney has gone from implementing successful healthcare reform as Governor, to pretending he didn't implement healthcare reform, to saying he wouldn't implement it for everyone, and finally to just saying "Fuck it. It wasn't a good idea for Massachusetts either."
Now that the Romney campaign is locking horns with the Gingrich campaign, you can expect more of this. Just today he decided to wrap his arms around the Paul Ryan Path to Poverty and fully embraced healthcare coupons.
This is a huge departure of rhetoric for Romney, because the only thing further out on the other end of the spectrum from the Paul Ryan plan than Obamacare and Romneycare would be single-payer. It's a complete about-face.