GINGRICH CAN REPEAL OBAMACARE

The Wall Street Journal

  • JANUARY 20, 2012

Unlike Mitt Romney, who is burdened by his continued defense of RomneyCare, Newt can fully take on the president.

By BILL MCCOLLUM

As the attorney general who filed the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that is now before the U.S. Supreme Court, I care deeply about repealing and replacing the law. For this to happen, President Obama has to be replaced. There is no other candidate as well equipped as Newt Gingrich to take it to Barack Obama in a health-care debate.

Contrary to what many pundits say, Newt Gingrich is the most likely of the Republican candidates to defeat Mr. Obama this fall. Why? Because he is the most able to articulate the conservative positions, is the most concise and convincing advocate when speaking and debating, and has the best and boldest plan to restore the economy.

Moreover, and unlike former Gov. Mitt Romney—who is burdened by his continued defense of RomneyCare—Newt has admitted the error of his earlier support of the individual mandate and can fully take on the president over the issue of ObamaCare. And after the economy and national security, this is the most important issue in the campaign.

In 2006, as governor of Massachusetts, Mr. Romney proposed and enacted the health-care law after which much of ObamaCare was modeled. RomneyCare contained an individual mandate requiring every resident of Massachusetts not otherwise insured to buy a health-insurance policy or pay a penalty. It embraced a regulatory framework that has suppressed innovation and competition and resulted in higher insurance premiums and a doctor shortage.

The average wait time for a routine checkup in Massachusetts has grown to 48 days, and many internists are not accepting new patients. Costs have soared and many remain uninsured. Quality, affordability and accessibility of health care have worsened, not improved.

mccollum

Associated PressRepublican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich

Because he still supports the Massachusetts health-care law and its individual mandate, Gov. Romney will be unable to effectively confront Mr. Obama in debates or on the campaign trail with the full range of horrors that the president has foisted on the American public with ObamaCare. Mr. Romney won’t be able to denounce the individual mandate, or the government regulations that will determine which health-care benefits are “essential” and thus available—a decision best left to patients or our doctors. He won’t be able to connect ObamaCare to a growing shortage of doctors, or to the stifling of innovation and decline of the quality of our health care, or to the inevitability of rationing in order to control costs.

In any debate over ObamaCare, Newt would eviscerate Mr. Obama. He could easily explain how this law marches us toward single-payer universal health care and rationing in the name of cost-containment. And he can use the debate to enlighten, educate and gain support for market-driven alternatives to ObamaCare—alternatives that will provide coverage for more people and those with pre-existing conditions, while removing government impediments to medical innovation and doctor/patient choices.

Newt has the knowledge, leadership skills and vision necessary to restore our economy and protect us from our enemies. Our country needs a bold, decisive, inspirational leader dedicated to reducing the size and scope of the federal government, to enacting major pro-growth tax and regulatory reform, to replacing ObamaCare, and to strengthening our military and national security. Newt has all these qualities and would do all these things.

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Steve Moore on two recent polls showing Newt Gingrich surging in South Carolina, Rick Perry’s decision to drop out of the race, and tonight’s CNN debate.

Newt is not without his faults—none of the candidates is—but his positives far outweigh his negatives. Over the last several weeks his critics have greatly distorted and exaggerated his negatives.

While I served with him in Congress in the 1980s, Newt was the central force in creating the Conservative Opportunity Society, which provided a platform for conservative Republican congressmen that had not previously existed. He founded GOPAC, which had an enormous impact on the development of conservative leaders and candidates at the local and state level across the nation.

From 1989-95, I served with Newt as one of eight elected Republican leaders in the U.S. House. He was the minority whip and I was the vice chairman of the Republican Conference. I helped write the Contract with America and campaigned in more than 90 congressional districts when Republicans took the majority in the House for the first time in 40 years. I know that this would not have happened without Newt’s leadership and vision.

Under his leadership as speaker we enacted much of the Contract with America, achieved welfare reform, and balanced the federal budget. Newt is very good not only at coming up with ideas, but also at delegating and inspiring others to work together to solve big problems.

At this moment in history Newt Gingrich is the right person to lead our nation and the best candidate to defeat President Obama.

Mr. McCollum is a former Florida attorney general and U.S. congressman.

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