CHICAGO – Minnesota GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty took an aggressive line against President Barack Obama’s proposed health care overhaul Friday and insisted that a rejection of the Democratic plan could usher in a Republican resurgence.
“It appears that President Obama is making great progress on climate change, he is changing the political climate in the country back to Republican,” Pawlenty said during a speech to the second annual GOPAC conference in Chicago.
“He went around the country last fall promising ‘change we can believe in,’ but now we see it’s about changing what we believe in,” said Pawlenty, an anticipated 2012 Republican presidential contender. “We need to be calling out the flaws and misguided decisions of the Democrats in Congress and the Obama administration.”
Pawlenty characterized Obama as an “extreme left liberal” proposing a health care plan “that we don’t recognize as supporters of the free market.”
“Medicaid is essentially bankrupt, Medicare is essentially
bankrupt, why the heck would we give the federal government another entitlement program to manage?” asked Pawlenty.
The Minnesota Republican threw a number of red-meat lines to the audience of GOP state legislators, including a slam directed at MSNBC “Hardball” host Chris Matthews.
“The only thing growing faster than the federal deficit and debt is Chris Matthews’ man crush on Obama,” Pawlenty joked.
Pawlenty, who became vice chairman of the Republican Governors Association following South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s resignation as the group’s chair, projected GOP wins this fall in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races and anticipated those victories would spring board the party to success in 2010.
“We already are seeing the Republican resurgence in this country, but it is going to be affirmed and we are going to get great momentum from the victories we’re going to have in New Jersey and Virginia this fall,” Pawlenty said.
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