Sunday, January 29, 2012

My Romney problem

I consider Obama Care to be one of the biggest infringements on individual rights - not to mention one of our costliest entitlements - since the New Deal. I believe it needs to be repealed. Not tinkered with, not updated, not tweaked. Repealed. That's the source of my greatest concern about Romney. As the architect of a similar program in Massachusetts, which also features an individual mandate - and of which Romney remains obstinately supportive - what standing will he have to debate the issue with Obama? One wonders if he will even bring the subject up, since it apparently isn't worth getting angry about.

How frustrating it is that genuinely conservative presidential aspirants, for whatever reason, can't seem to gain traction, while this moderate Ken doll leads the rapidly diminishing pack. If conservatives can't advance their cause in a presidential term that has seen the utter folly of liberalism brought to disastrous fruition across the board - and by its most arrogant, overhyped and inept exponent - what hope will we have if we ever again see a Democrat who is even marginally less left-wing than the current occupant of the White House?

I understand the overarching need to unseat Obama. What I don't understand is why so many ostensibly conservative people think that a political chameleon like Romney represents our best hope.

Update: Looking ahead, this is my guy.

19 comments:

JeffS said...

The key word in your post is "ostensible". I think that much of the national Republican leadership is all about them and their exclusive ruling clique. They are more interested in retaining their positions and influence than keeping America above water, and will do anything to maintain the status quo.

And the Alinksy media is more than happy to support their circular firing squad, of course.

Yojimbo said...

Whoa pilgrim! Romney is probably our best hope considering what we had to work with. Palin didn't run. Ryan didn't run. Rubio didn't run. Walker didn't run. I'm missing some people here, but what the heck. He is not being chosen OVER others, the others fell by the wayside all on their own. There was no there there with Michelle unfortunatley. Santorum(my pick) has a feeling of unelectability and not a Tea Party favorite because of his sttress on social issues instead of fiscal issues. Perry, who could have won, ran himself out of town on a rail that he laid all by himself. Same with Cain. Our truly desirable, and very electable, candidates don't arrive until 2016.
We had just better hope that Obama doesn't put Hillary on the under ticket. He would become very formidable with her and she would be setup for the next 8 years as well. Paragraphs! We don't need no stinkin paragraphs!

ObamaCare will not be one of the biggest, it will be the biggest. The third largest employer in the world is the British Heathcare system. Think what we can do!

The difficulty is you just can't repeal ObamaCare. You can't pass PL Whatever and it will go away.
You also have to abolish all those agencies/commissions/boards/panels along with it. That means firing people in a recession and adding to the unemployment. You also have to do a surgical strick on HHS employment and power because that's where most of the regulatory power is located right
now.

The best we can hope for right now is beat Obama so he can't veto legislation and appoint Supreme Court Justices and elect a Tea Party Congress that will grab Romney or Gingrich by the throat and beat him against a wall a few times and tell him to sign anything that comes his way. I claim world's record for longest sentence.:)

Yojimbo said...

Hmm That would be "unfortunately" and "surgical strike". A thousand sorrows and tears of regret issue forth from this time and place.

Paco said...

YoJ: I'm saying that it's a shame that we can't field a better candidate, whatever the reason. The repeal of Obama Care naturally involves knocking down the bureaucratic apparatus, and I'm not suggesting that Congress can wave a magic wand and make the whole edifice disappear overnight. The challenge is to tackle the entire architecture of the Provider State, and to do that, at a minimum, we need someone who is willing to provide leadership for real change, not just "manage" what's in place to make it more "efficient". Your point about 2016 is well taken, and underscores the fact that this is a long-term struggle.

RebeccaH said...

I agree with the Yojimbo. If Romney is the best we can do right now, then we'd better make the best use of him we can, and if that means holding his feet to the fire, so be it.

Paco said...

Let's just hope he's not wearing asbestos socks.

rinardman said...

I still like what Newt has to say. Will he do what he says (as much as he's allowed to), and can what he says be believed? I don't really know, but I also don't blindly believe what those who speak against him say. His biggest problem would be getting Republicans in the House & Senate to back him in trying to reverse what #4 has done to this country.

I am still a firm ABO, but lately I have been pushed towards ABOR. Listening to Romney, I often have the same reaction that I do listening to Obama. Well, OK, the revulsion isn't quite as strong, but it's getting there. If he's the only option, I would hold my nose and vote for him, but that would be all I'd do.

If things (the Republican Establishment) don't change, I think the only real hope for this country is a new conservative party. Make the TEA Party a real political party, and jettison the RINOs entrenched in DC. I think in time the old Republican party would die out from lack of support (votes, not money), and not be missed by true conservatives. Both the Democrat and Republican parties have been moving to the left for years, and both are becoming strangers to their core constituents.

El Cid said...

OK, I agree with everyone, TO a point. Howz' Dat? lol.

Anyhoo, I've been following and commenting at http://legalinsurrection.com/ quite a bit lately.

Professor Jacobson has done a fine job on this subject (others have also) BUT I like P. Jacobson's style.

Links galore on his site backing up everything he and commentor's type..MOST excellent.

Leaning Gingrich I am, but after the elitist R's get through with Newt, there ain't gonna be a hell of a lot left. AND this is BEFORE Axlerod, finds 23/12 MORE women, in Chicago that claim Gingrich AND Cain, harassed and raped all of them. In addition to those before them, of course.

Like Paco's pick for future Rubio. My real go to guy, isn't in this field and that's Allen West.

Personally, as I've typed over at L.I. in this election, I'd vote for the last Snickers candy bar standing, if it meant getting rid of Saul Obama..

El Cid said...

BTW, that was to BE 23 and 1/2..Jesus..

This is what a Romney Repub. in FL is doing to my man, West.



A Romney Repub is making a strong effort to oust West, through redistricing

Me no like Romney..

Paco said...

El C: I much prefer Newt to Romney. Whatever his faults (and they are many), at least he's a fighter. Romney is more of a conniver.

I also like Santorum, and pray that his daughter recovers quickly.

El Cid said...

conniver is a good word, not my choice, but good. ;)

Indeed on Santorum child, Paco. Lord knows that family has suffered enough with their children.

Even at that low lifes from both political sides, (me thinks) made sickening remarks.

El Cid said...

Apologize for the OT..

Paco, in addition to the Santorum child, this is another that needs prayer..

Lucas Hembree and his dog Juno.

Paco said...

Very nice story, El C.; thanks for providing a link.

Yojimbo said...

Well, I don't want to vote for either one of them. Neither comes close to what I want. We were just dealt a bad hand in this cycle.

However, neither one will expand the debt and will be forced to eliminate the ObamaCare structure with a strong Tea Party Congress.
Neither one will be able to appoint left-wing Supreme Court Justices in the coming four years. There are at least two and maybe three possible openings in the next four years. We simply can't lelt the Court completely flip as Obama would do.

I will be happy if we can at least accomplish those things. It's a backfire fight for the next four years until we can elect one of the better candidates that will appear in 2016.

Michael Lonie said...

This campaign reminds me in some ways of 1992. Then, too, my favored candidate wasn't running. I favored a woman, but for some reason Margaret Thatcher's name wasn't on the ballot.

For some time I've been looking forweard to Jindal becoming the Pack candidate. I'd like Sarah Palin (who has a great fund of common sense, as far as I can tell), but I think the concerted effort by the Lamestream media to rubbish her, and the premeditated campaign by the Jackass Party in Alaska to destroy her political career by bankrupting her family through barratry, have made her candidacy impossible. Marco Rubio is also a good candidate, especially after he gets more experience. But these people are possibilities for 2020 or (please, Lord, no) 2016,

This year I favor Santorum, faut de mieux. I took a second look at Newt and didn't like what I saw. He's just as statist as Romney and much less steady and reliable; he hares off on tangents and flakey enthusiasms all the time.

Nevertheless: Anybody but Obama.

Well almost. Not Hillary either.

rinardman said...

It's a backfire fight for the next four years until we can elect one of the better candidates that will appear in 2016.

Do you mean 2020? If Romney wins, I don't see him giving up after one term.

That's another thing about the current bunch of candidates. If one of them were to win, we are stuck with them for another election cycle.

JeffS said...

Yojimbo, if it comes down to Mitt and Jug Ears, I'll hold my nose and vote Mitt.

But it IS possible to repeal Obamacare, by using the same approach San Fran Nan did in drafting that dreck: Just do it. Shut down the mandates and the Federal "oversight".

With one caveat: A lot of those Obamacare jobs are NEW positions. Further, the Feds are rip for a RIF (a/k/a "Reduction in Force") anyway. The bureaucracy has been blooming under Obama, and it's way past time to downsize. I speak as a Federal employee.

So, I'd set up a commission to decommission Obamacare, with the mandate to get the Federal government out of healthcare, or at least to the 2007 level, by 2014, and set up a RIF at the same time. Painful? Maybe, but less painful than the continued slide into the Banana Republic Of North America.

BUT.....I agree, it'll take a good President and a TEA Party Congress to do it.

Old Sailor Man said...

Paco,is Rubio not disqualified from the office by virtue of his birth circumstances?

Yojimbo said...

Marco Rubio was born in Florida, one of the 57 states. His parents were born in Cuba but they came to the United States before he was born.