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Obama for America

"The Anniversary of Romneycare" +
  3:01 web video from April 12, 2012.

[Music] Jack McDonough: Massachusetts health reform was going to be Mitt Romney's central accomplishment that he would use on the national stage running for president.

Romney: I want to thank the many people who were critical to crafting the bold health care initiative that I'm about to sign.  Jonathan Gruber at MIT...

Jonathan Gruber: I helped Gov. Romney develop his health care reform or Romneycare before going down to Washington to help President Obama develop his national version of that law.

Jack McDonough: I helped craft and pass Massachusetts health reform in 2006 and the Affordable Care Act in 2010.

Mitt Romney had this belief that this was going to be his ticket to national fame and glory. 

[Applause] Romney: This is a politician's dream, you've got to admit...

Jack McDonough: Romney's people built a stage on top of the stage so that the event would project better for the assembled national media.

Romney: I'm standing on the top of this pedestal here and then I've got a little step underneath to get even higher.

Jack McDonough: He believed what we were doing in Massachusetts could be a good national model.

Romney: Massachusetts is a model for getting everybody insured.  The right way to proceed is to reform health care.  That we can do as we did it in Massachusetts...

TEXT: Romney on Romneycare: "a model for the nation"  - Mitt Romney, 2/2/07

Jonathan Gruber: The core of the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare and what we did in Massachusetts are identical.

It was to President Obama's credit that he said, yeah, the policy idea is from the right, but look, here's something that really worked.

[Applause at Obama signing]

Jonathan Gruber: Then all of the sudden Mitt Romney started attacking basically what he'd done.

Romney (clip from debate): If I were president, day one I will take action to repeal Obamacare.

Romney: He passed Obamacare; I'll repeal it.

Romney: I will repeal Obamacare, and I'll kill it dead on its first day [applause].

Jonathan Gruber: Here's a guy who came up with this brilliant achievement, made it work in Massachusetts, then suddenly because it was from the other party, it was a bad idea.

Jack McDonough: On the campaign trail what you say in one town can show up in the next.  People have him recorded as promoting Massachusetts health reform, promoting it as a national model, and now he is saying he wants to tear down the very model that he was promoting.

Madelyn Rhenisch: I was lucky enough to be the first person enrolled in the Core Health Plan under Romneycare and was invited to the initiating ceremony with Gov. Romney. 

Massachusetts health reform has allowed me to get my life back.  I lost it and now I'm getting it back again, and when I hear Gov. Romney talking about repealing Obamacare, I just think he's jumping to a political position where the issue isn't health care, it's getting elected. 

And I think, don't you remember me, don't you remember my story and all the other stories you heard.  How can you attack this when you've heard all that?  Don't we matter?  Don't we matter?

[Truth Team graphic]

Notes:
McDonough is identified on screen as "Architect & Advocate for both 'Romneycare' & 'Obamacare.'" 
Gruber as "Health Consultant to both Romney & Obama Administrations."
Rhenisch as "First Enrollee in Core Health Plan under "Romneycare"