With this op-ed on health-care reform, Mitch Daniels is clearly positioning himself for the Republican presidential primary:
Unless you're in favor of a fully nationalized health-care system, the president's health-care reform law is a massive mistake. It will amplify all the big drivers of overconsumption and excessive pricing: "Why not, it's free?" reimbursement; "The more I do, the more I get" provider payment; and all the defensive medicine the trial bar's ingenuity can generate.
All claims made for it were false. It will add trillions to the federal deficit. It will lead to a de facto government takeover of health care faster than most people realize, and as millions of Americans are added to the Medicaid rolls and millions more employees (including, watch for this, workers of bankrupt state governments) are dumped into the new exchanges.
There are some constructive suggestions in the body of the piece, but mostly, it's just a vehicle for rhetoric that wouldn't be out of place at a Tea Party rally. This is all to say that I've always been skeptical of Mitch Daniel's potential as a "sane" candidate for president. For most of the last year, he hasn't had to cater to the conservative base or signal any solidarity with their priorities. But as he tries to make his way through the Republican primary, he'll be forced to adopt the positions and rhetoric of his more reactionary fellow travelers, if only to demonstrate conservative credibility.
Relatedly, I think moderate and reformist conservatives are a little too candidate-focused. This is a little tautological, but politicians respond to political incentives, and in the Republican Party, the incentives point toward confrontation and right-wing rhetoric and away from moderation or constructive policies. For reformist conservatives to make any headway, they first have to build a strong constituency within the party, which is easier said than done.
-- Jamelle Bouie
