The Hill's Mike O'Brien:
President Obama pointedly praised on Monday the healthcare program Republican Mitt Romney installed as governor of Massachusetts.
Obama singled out Romney for praise over his healthcare plan, which shares similarities with the president's own healthcare reform law, in a bit of backhanded praise for the likely Republican presidential candidate.
"I agree with Mitt Romney, who's recently said he's proud of what he accomplished in Massachusetts," Obama said at a gathering of governors at the White House.
This isn't the first time Obama or one of his top advisers has made the link.
Last November, the POTUS explained the politics of his health care bill (while announcing that Mitt Romney was running for president).
“We thought that if we shaped a bill that wasn’t that different from bills that that had previously been introduced by Republicans -- including the Republican governor in Massachusetts who’s now running for president -- that we would be able to find some common ground there, and we just couldn't.
And last October, David Axelrod made the connection when asked about Mitt Romney.
.... you know, he started off as a kind of moderate Republican in Massachusetts, passed a health care plan very much like the President's health care plan.
The troubling prospect for Romney: His health care plan could be an issue in both the GOP primary and -- if he wins it -- the general election.
