Rick Santorum is the first 2012 candidate to react to Mitt Romney’s health-care speech this afternoon. His statement [emphasis mine]:
I greatly respect Governor Romney and admire many of his personal and professional accomplishments, but his work to institute the precursor to national socialized medicine is not one of them. Both Romneycare and Obamacare infringe upon individual freedom and exponentially increase the government’s healthcare cost burden. Romneycare has, in fact, not made healthcare better or saved costs in Massachusetts. It’s done just the opposite. This is not a failure of execution, but a lack of foresight on Governor Romney’s part to understand the implications of his policy proposals. We need leaders who believe in the American people again, not the power of government to solve our problems. Yes, the Governor had the right to implement Romney-Obamacare at the state-level, but that does not make it the right thing to do.