Eileen McNamara has a column today that basically says the same things that David said on Wednesday: Dems are chumps for sitting by Romney while he signed the health care law — which he laughably claims to have “authored”, BTW — even though he vetoed the deadbeat employer assessment, restoration of dental care to MassHealth and other critical parts.
I don’t know … Romney’s vetoes were craven, and I said so; but a few days later I can’t get too exercised about the whole thing. The legislators wrote the damn thing; Ted Kennedy and others weighed in on it; they knew the vetoes were parlor tricks for Grover Norquist just as much as we did; and DiMasi said so himself.
But if the Dems in the legislature don’t come to grips with the challenges ahead, this may well turn out to be their “Mission Accomplished” banner — and Romney’s. So, they’re in the curious position of making sure Romney looks good on the trail going forward, by implementing the bill wisely and well. As Olivia Newton-John sang, “Gotta be a strange twist of fate…”
Again, I couldn’t care less about Romney’s political future; the only thing that matters is whether folks get to see doctors when they’re sick. Did Romney enable that to happen? Well, sure he did, in spite of himself. Let’s move on, and make sure we get it right going forward.
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By the way, from the “Ask and ye shall already have received” dept … We are getting serious about prevention in the new law: Insurers will be able to charge smokers higher rates, and will be allowed to reward healthy, preventative behaviors. Only makes sense.
Romney didn’t write the bill, he didn’t negotiate between Trav and DiMasi to get this done, the bill didn’t require his signature as it was veto-proof, and he got to veto the provisions to, as you say, Norquist proof his run for president. Yet the Dems allowed him to declare victory anyway?
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I have to wonder why.
And because they want to take credit for their victory, too. It ain’t always about Mitt, who is in fact now the least important figure among everyone standing up there in those pictures. Kennedy, Healey, DiMasi, Trav, Walrath, Moore, etc. etc. all are crucial figures in the future of health care in MA.