With 2012 looming on the horizon, possible contenders for the Republican presidential nomination weighed in on the new Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, pushing to repeal the health care law passed last year with the support of President Barack Obama.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, offered strong support for the repeal.
We were told -- and sold --everything except the truth about the details in the health-care act, noted Huckabee on Tuesday. And then, despite a majority of Americans rejecting this massive change in public policy, Congress enacted it anyway. Thats not the way its supposed to work in our representative democracy.
"This massive 2,500-page piece of legislation went to the floor of the House without being read by pretty much anyone, was rammed down the throats of an unwilling public, was enacted in the middle of the night -- and in the height of hypocrisy, exempted the president, the vice president, congressional leadership and committee staff from the bill that Americans didnt want.
Huckabee, who moved to Florida last year, added that he would help lead what he called the most massive petition drive in the history of the country. Nor is he alone among possible Republican presidential candidates in petitioning to repeal the health-care law. Former New York Gov. George Pataki, who is also a potential candidate for the 2012 Republican nomination, has also backed a petition drive calling for repeal of the health-care law.
Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich is also leading a petition against the measures. Both Gingrichs and Patakis camps stated they have more than 100,000 signatures and they are continuing their efforts.
Huckabee disagreed with the idea that the Wednesday repeal vote, which is expected to pass in the Republican-controlled House but fail in the Democratic-led U.S. Senate, was meaningless.
With the House of Representatives vowing to push a repeal vote, many pundits describe this as a symbolic act by House Republicans that will be frustrated in the Senate and, if necessary, vetoed by the president, mused Huckabee. They are, as usual, ignoring the effect of public opinion and the central role citizens of the nation must play in approving -- or rejecting -- public policy changes. They are ignoring the revolution that is occurring in the body politic that has so profoundly changed business-as-usual inside the Capitol Beltway.
"The voice of the citizen is being restored and those who again frustrate the will of the majority of Americans are going to have a difficult time explaining why this law should be an exception to the bedrock of our system of government -- the consent of the governed.
Huckabee stated that he thought repeal of the health-care legislation would be a leading issue in 2011.
In the coming months we will see the American people roar their disapproval and insist, without qualification, on repeal of the health-care act, noted Huckabee. This is nothing less than a renewal of the promise of our form of government and a validation that the consent of the governed is again the test all public policy must satisfy. Given the missteps from Washington in recent decades, this could not come a moment too soon.
Huckabee was joined by several other possible contenders for the Republican nomination who also backed repealing the law. The Americas Foundation PAC, which has ties to former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, on Tuesday urged its supporters to get in touch with their congressional representatives and urge them to support the repeal. Santorum, a social conservative who lost his Senate seat to Democrat Bob Casey, has been a regular visitor to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina which are some of the crucial opening battlegrounds for the Republican nomination.
Three possible candidates for the Republican nomination -- U.S. Representatives Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota, Ron Paul of Texas and Mike Pence of Indiana -- have joined more than 175 other congressmen in co-sponsoring the repeal bill.
Other possible Republican candidates include former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who backed universal health care during his term in office but is now backing repeal of the Obama law; former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin; former Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota; former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani; U.S. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota; former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson; Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi; Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana; former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer; former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton; political activist Fred Karger, and businessman Herman Cain.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
