Mitt Romney's Fatal Mistake

I was hoping that Mitt Romney would cast off his Massachusetts Romneycare and propose a completely new program. However, he made a strategic error in his speech in Michigan on 5/12/11 by continuing to defend his fatally flawed Romneycare program. By doing that, he lost the support of his base because of his weak defense of his program, which is currently on life-support. He was not smart enough to realize that his speech was a pivotal speech.

When Barack Obama praised Romneycare, that praise dealt a death blow to his healthcare program and to his potential candidacy. Romney was not smart enough to realize that he needed to cast off his pride-and-joy and start from a white piece of paper. It is sad that he could not see that. If he did, he would have probably locked up the nomination. Everybody was expecting him to propose a major change in his approach to the presidency. However, he failed. For that, I am much saddened.

Mitt Romney shot himself in the foot and threw away the Republican nomination with his weak, defensive speech in Michigan.  In other words, he snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.  Ex-president John F. Kennedy said that the first responsibility of all politicians is to be elected.  If you cannot get elected, you cannot do anything as an elected official—because you will not be one!  Mitt Romney will not get elected by playing the honesty card.  Does he not know that ALL politicians are liars, cheaters, and crooks?

I think Romney sincerely believes he is an honest man.  Just ask Mike Huckabee if Mitt Romney is an honest man.  You will receive a terse, angry response from him about Romney and his honesty.  These days, honesty depends on who is making the evaluation.  Truly honest people do not get anywhere close to being a politician.  Over half of those in Congress and in the White House should be in prison for all of the lying, cheating, and stealing that they do with the American people’s money.

What Romney needed to do was not to apologize for his Massachusetts Romneycare, but, instead, to say he was going to repeal Obamacare and start with a clean sheet of paper.  Then, he should have delineated all of the qualities of what the new, national Healthcare Plan would include, which are the following:

•  Providing no-cost and low-cost health insurance only to those who absolutely cannot afford it, e.g., the totally handicapped, the bedridden/vegetable, destitute, severely injured and disabled veterans, etc.

•  Illegal aliens shall not receive medical insurance, medical care, etc.  Period!  Deport all illegal aliens.

•  Eliminate the nanny state approach to medical care (what is included in Obamacare)

•  Allow purchasing and selling of health insurance across state lines.  Encourage competition among health insurance providers.

•  Eliminate frivolous lawsuits and litigation by ambulance chasers and greedy lawyers suing of doctors, hospitals, and medical personnel

•  Every capable citizen should pay a reasonable percentage of medical and hospital care if they possess the money to do so

•  Eliminate all social medicine aspects that are currently included in Obamacare

•  No single-payer system

If Romney had done the above, he would not have compromised his “honesty” and would have gained a lot of support instead of the negative backlash he has received in the media.  It is sad to see a good man lose because he is incapable or unwilling to be flexible enough to capture the nomination before excluding himself with career-limited thinking.  If Mitt wants to continue to be “honest” as he thinks, then, he should remain in the private sector and stay out of the filthy, blood politics of Washington, DC.  Naïveté is not part of a winning politician’s makeup.