>>
now to
presidential politics
.
health care
h will be a hot button issue during the
2012
campaign and that could present a challenge to
mitt romney
. nbc's political director and chief
white house
correspondent
chuck todd
has details now. good morning.
>> reporter:
good morning. in case you didn't notice the
2012
presidential race
it went into another gear this week. you had the president quoting latino voters on a daily basis and then there is the
republican front
runner,
mitt romney
, trying to deal with the issue that could cost him a shot at taking the president on.
>>
good morning.
obama for america
.
>> reporter:
in chicago thursday, the obama
presidential campaign
opened its doors to the media. another sign the
2012
race has begun.
>>
obamacare represents a government takeover of
health care
.
>> reporter:
meanwhile in michigan,
mitt romney
was laying the groundwork before launching his presidential bid by jumping into an issue that some republicans believe could lead to his downfall --
health care
.
>>
who has a better plan for america? i'm confident that when considering those two plans the
american people
will say the
mitt romney
u.s. reforms is a lot better than obamacare.
>> reporter:
as governor in
2006
,
romney
signed a law that mandated everyone in massachusetts have
health insurance
. it became a model for
president obama
's
2010
federal
health care reform
. back then,
romney
touted his plan's virtues.
>>
there are aspects of it i think would work across the country, perhaps better in some states than others.
>> reporter:
but ever since he's been on the defensive with many determined to make
health care law
a central issue.
>>
our solution was a state solution to a state problem. his is a power grabby the government.
>> reporter:
president obama
has relished watching
romney
struggle with the issue.
>>
there is a vicious rumor that i think could hurt
mitt romney
. i heard he passed
universal health care
when he was
governor of massachusetts
. someone should get to the bottom of that.
>> reporter:
despite the president's glee and the on going criticism
romney
faces from conservatives he made no apologies thursday.
>>
i did what was right for the people of my state.
>> reporter:
still his
2012
strategy carries risks.
>>
i'm not sure conservatives will buy what he's selling on this.
>> reporter:
another republican joins the race officially this morning.
ron paul
, congressman from texas, a candidate who ran for president four years ago is running again. a lot of people say he was the godfather of the
tea party
movement. matt?
>>
chuck todd
, thank you very much.
>>
david gregory
is moderator of "meet the press." good morning.
>>
hey, matt.
>>
how fine is the line that
mitt romney
is trying to walk? on the one hand saying, when i passed this
health care reform
in massachusetts it was right for the people of my state. when
president obama
did it, it was overreach by the government.
>>
that will be difficult. there are people in the
republican party
that say this will kill the candidacy. you don't start with such a high negative on an issue that's a galvanizing force for the party.
health care
is a problem for the republicans because this is really the overall theme of government overreach, the role of government in the economy and in our revielives. for
romney
to be saddled with this is difficult. people say he'll get points for conviction by standing behind it so he's not seen as a flip-flop.
>>
the
washington post
writes the way he gave the speech yesterday marks a contrast to the way he campaigned in
2008
. says now, he is willing to be transparent about what he believes and why he believes it. the only strategic path for
romney
to win the nomination is to let mitt be mitt. you see it as a change.
>>
conservatives didn't trust him in
2008
. they didn't feel he was true to the cause and politically expedient. he's decided, look, i'm not running from this record. there are problems with it, but i will take it on head on, do it early. he's not even a declared candidate yet. he hopes he can prevail over the campaign.
>>
this is more
style over substance
but if you look at him yesterday versus the way we were used to seeing him, he's not wearing a tie. there is no teleprompter. some note he's not traveling with a large entourage. this was a guy criticized for having a tough time connecting to the audience. do you see a new and improved
mitt romney
here?
>>
certainly new. there are shades of improvements. he didn't give a speech. it was a
powerpoint presentation
and he's effective. at this juncture where he's not an official candidate the style points could matter. he goes into the campaign with a huge liability on an issue that's motivating republican voters against his position.
>>
let me talk to you about the debt ceiling debate that's going to happen. this is going to be a major battle between the
white house
, democrats in congress and republicans. according to the treasury secretary, this is time-sensitive. if they don't settle it by august the nation could go into defau default. there is an article in the
wall street journal
that says republicans are starting to doubt the urgency. what's your take?
>>
the republicans i talk to say, we don't care what the
white house
says. they under estimate how good the politics are for us. you can go to your
home district
and say we need to draw a
line in the sand
on debt. the
federal government
could pay off certain obligations sooner. this is not a firm
line in the sand
. they think taking a stand here will work this year. you heard treasury secretary tim geithner, others in the administration who say, no way. you can't play chicken with this.
senator obama
did vote against raising the debt ceiling in
2006
. as president he says, i regret that i did that.
>>
big name in the race this week by tweeting and youtube.
newt gingrich
. you have him on sunday for an hour. that should be interesting.
>>
this is our meet the candidate series. we'll go through the issues. the big plus for him is he's an ideas man. is that enough to outweigh high negatives, personal baggage? and he was
speaker of the house
before there was such a thing as twitter.
>>
thank you very much.
>>
thanks, matt.
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