Posted on 08/16/2013 7:17:07 AM PDT by Deadeye Division
Gov. John Kasich awoke to a front-page story in the Wall Street Journal yesterday that not only mentioned him as a possible White House contender for 2016, but as someone who could “rebrand the Republican Party.”
After that piece, Kasich’s press office announced by 11:30 a.m. that Kasich would lead a national push to produce a federal balanced-budget amendment.
And about an hour after that, in a speech to the Franklin County Republican Party, he said the Affordable Care Act is “not Obama’s plan; it’s Hillarycare.”
It was quite a sequence ... but for a governor seeking re-election next year or of someone thinking bigger?
“Always in politics people are trying to assume what your ulterior motive is. I have no ulterior motive,” Kasich said when asked about his day. “My motive is to get the federal government in a place where my daughters can have a good life, and secondly I do want to see health-care reform, just not the health-care reform we have.”
Kasich has been asked about his presidential aspirations numerous times as national news outlets and pundits continue to mention him as a possible 2016 participant, and he always says he’s just focused on being governor.
But it was hard to see where Democrat Ed FitzGerald, Kasich’s likely challenger for governor next year, fit onto Kasich’s radar yesterday — even though it was also the day a complaint filed by FitzGerald against Kasich and JobsOhio was dismissed by the Ohio Ethics Commission.
Ohio Democratic spokesman Matt McGrath said, “With the state ranked 47th in job creation (from June 2012 to June 2013) and his signature program, JobsOhio, mired in scandal, I’d say John Kasich is having a rough few weeks in the crucial swing state of Ohio.”
The Wall Street Journal wrote that “more than any other leading Republican, Gov. Kasich is using his perch to promote a blend of conservative orthodoxy leavened with liberal policies meant to help the poor, the mentally ill and the uninsured” through items such as his proposed Medicaid expansion.
Should Kasich win re-election next year, he could “provide his party with its most extensive model for a softer brand of conservatism,” the Journal wrote.
“This is a very important thing for our party to demonstrate,” former national GOP chairman and Romney for President adviser Ed Gillespie told the Journal.
Kasich seemed to channel those thoughts in his remarks to Franklin County Republicans, when, in a speech packed with new material, he said that “our job as a party is to repair the world in which we live.”
He used a portion of that speech to explain his push to force Congress to balance the federal budget.
He will work with the GOP-controlled Ohio legislature to pass a resolution for a national constitutional convention. If 34 states call for a constitutional convention, it would take 38 states to ratify a balanced-budget amendment, according to Kasich’s office.
Last year, the federal government sent $18.4 billion to Ohio — money that surely would be affected if Congress balanced the federal budget.
Kasich, who was U.S. House Budget Committee chairman when the federal budget last was balanced in the late 1990s, said the country’s $17 trillion debt is why he is seeking action.
“It threatens to swallow us up,” Kasich said in his speech. “America has become a debtor nation. The Chinese have become a lending nation.”
Kasich already had presented a mixed front on health care before yesterday. For most of this year, he has pushed for a federally funded expansion of Ohio’s Medicaid program, with billions provided under Obamacare.
He also has been generally critical of President Barack Obama’s law, and Kasich’s campaign recently circulated an online petition to “Stand Up Against Obamacare.”
But tying Obamacare to Hillary Clinton, who is a favorite to win the Democratic nomination in 2016 if she runs, was a new one for Kasich.
Clinton’s failed attempt at a health-care overhaul as first lady in the early 1990s did have an employer mandate with similarities to Obama’s law.
But it did not include an individual mandate for insurance coverage, which is the signature piece of the Affordable Care Act.
“What I have said about Obamacare is right, but I am the guy pushing Medicaid expansion, so try to figure me out,” Kasich said.
Dispatch Washington Bureau Chief Jack Torry contributed to this story.
jvardon@dispatch.com
@joevardon
IMO, another Fred Thompson type, albeit 20 years younger.
Kasich paved the way when it comes to weaseling into office pretending to be conservative and breaking every promise he made once he was in office.
No longer.
I Mean it!
No one and nothing LESS will succeed at this point.
The establishment, cookie-cutter Republicans can ONLY see the mass of entrenched Liberals. THEN they wast time and resources working like h%$# to accommodate THAT agenda and make it compatible with the GOP message.
The Liberal agenda never was compatible with Conservatism and never will be! Establishment GOP candidates' efforts are wasted and succeed only (if at all) in reinforcing the Liberal agenda, simply by confusing matters in THEIR favor.
The ideological differences between Liberalism and Conservatism are more stark and immovable ALL THE TIME!
Instead of neurotically agonizing over the 'perceived' Liberal, successes.... why not capitalize on the gargantuan and GROWING Conservative groundswell AGAINST Liberal policies and what they are doing to America! A true Conservative can ride THAT locomotive all the way to the WH!!!!
Yay. More "compassionate conservatism"...
Ohio Ping
Kasich may have a difficult time winning re-eleciton>
Irony Alert: Kasich Asks Ohioans to Take a Stand Against Obamacare
So Governor Kasich wants Ohioans to take a stand against Obamacare.
snip
We collected over 400,000 signatures to place the [Ohio Constitutional amendment] Health Care Freedom Amendment on the ballot [Ohioans have the right to choose] and then proceeded to pass it with 66% of the statewide vote. We put Republicans in charge of every branch of government in Ohio and campaigned hard to get new leadership in Washington. In return, we have had to fight elected Republicans tooth and nail to keep them from advancing Obamacare through Medicaid expansion.
from bookmarks:
Ohio Constitution Prohibits Legislators from Enacting State Insurance Mandates
If Ohio accepts one dime of Obamacare money, then Ohio is implementing Obamacare, and once this is implemented, there will be no turning back, and the Federal Program will dictate how Ohio runs their program.
Video: Interview on Cavuto 8.15.13
Ohio Gov. Kasich: ‘Fed Up’ Neither Party Can Control Their Spending Habits
Kasich did have some appeal, but he lost my interest when he was one of the first sitting Republican governors to rush to get his state’s share of the Obamacare pie — after dissing Obamacare to get elected
Another kinder and gentler nation I presume?
I’ve always liked the idea of a federal balanced budget amendment....depending on how its written, of course. It needs to encourage living within one’s means and not going crazy with high taxes while living like kings.
It’s a far better idea with a repealed income tax and only one tax... a federal sales tax.
With an income tax it’s far easier to raise taxes to cover shortfalls than it is to cut budgets.
With a sales tax, people see every single day any tax increase, and they complain.
Asshole kasich, who obviously never had to buy a used car will male you a felon if you buy a car that a previous owner put a hidden compartment in.
Another tax collector for the welfare state. Bone head stupid. It's the SPENDING stupid. Do something about that.
*sigh*.. as usual, they talk big until they get into office....go away, RINO
I was a big Kasich fan but this Medicare issue ticks me off. He is not in Rubio’s position where I a. Finished because John has had a long track record of good governance, but I have my reservations.
Another RINO is not what is needed right now.
Naw...closet rino...give me Cruz or Paul or Palin.
“softer brand of conservatism”
That equals gun controlling RINO. No freekeeng way.
and a bridge in New Mexico to sell too. FAT chance.
Softer brand of conservatism sounds like “compassionate conservative”.
Enough of that garbage. We need someone like Ted Cruz.
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