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One of the funny things about Obamacare roots in the health care reform Mitt Romney enacted while governor of Massachusetts is that Romney has already had to defend himself against all the attacks President Obama is now facing. It makes it tricky for Republicans to attack the law when there's video of their own presidential nominee rebutting the very same attacks. Here are four things Romney wishes he could retract about Romneycare.
1. It's a tax! There wasn't much for Republicans to love in the Supreme Court's ruling that Obamacare is constitutional, except that they concluded the individual mandate is, for constitutional purposes (but not for others), a tax. The soundbites write themselves. Republicans can now brand Obama as raising taxes on the middle class, or, if they're feeling particularly blustery, "the biggest tax increase in the history of the world." But ABC News' Michael Falcone pulls up video from a January 2008 Republican presidential primary debate in which Romney seems to think such a tax is pretty great. When the debate moderator asks, "Governor … you imposed tax penalties in Massachusetts?" Romney defends the mandate by framing it terms of personal responsibility. "Yes, we said, look, if people can afford to buy it, either buy the insurance or pay your own way," he said. "Don’t be free-riders."