It’s not quite a Charlie Crist–level symbolic embrace of Obama, or on par with the thorny individual mandate of Romneycare, but once and perhaps future senator George LeMieux of Florida — increasingly seen as a likely candidate for the seat currently held by Bill Nelson in 2012 — can probably expect some grief over comments early in his term that suggested an openness to the exchanges created under Obamacare:
Florida Senator George LeMieux said today he likes the sound of President Obama’s proposal for creating health-care “exchanges” to help small businesses and individuals form groups to get better insurance rates.
LeMieux, just minutes after taking the oath of office, had a brief press conference in the Capitol in which he praised some aspects of Obama’s speech on Wednesday and expressed skepticism about an offshore drilling plan in the Senate.
“Some of the things he (Obama) talked about I thought were positive,” LeMieux, a Republican, said of Obama’s speech on Wednesday. LeMieux watched from the House gallery since he was not yet a senator.
He compared the exchange idea to insurance plans promoted by Governor Charlie Crist, who appointed LeMiuex to the Senate seat.
Of course, LeMieux will be able to point out that unless one of Florida’s House Republicans runs for the nomination, he alone among the GOP contenders has already voted against Obamacare; today Lemieux reiterated it must be repealed.
it will depend upon how the exchanges were described in Barry's speech, and i don't recall. If they were described as more like insurance pools for small businesses, then i wouldn't fault Lemiuex. Those are good things and republicans have been promoting those for a long time. If they were described as mandated insurance groups under a government single payer, then he has some 'splainin' to do.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHe'll be fine. A lot of the things Obama was saying about Obamacare sounded good, until you examined the actual legislation and discovered that it was the polar opposite of what was being promised. Remember, Obama 'sold' it in free-market terms (just like he sold himself as a moderate republican in his presidential campaign).
The important thing here is, Lemieux figured this out prior to the vote on the bill and voted against it. He also seems pretty firm in his position that it must be repealed.
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