Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal slipped up during an important conference call yesterday morning, which was hosted by the Republican National Committee and concerned the groundbreaking decision made by the Supreme Court earlier this week regarding the president’s health care initiative.
Jindal apparently referred to the mandate by a term his peers had hoped was gone from the political lexicon by now: “Obamneycare”. The term was coined back when former Minnesota Governor was running against Mitt Romney and decided to point out that Obamacare was a very similar plan to what Romney did for Massachusetts.
“There’s only one candidate — Gov. Romney — who’s committed that he will repeal the Obamney — the Obamacare tax increase. He will repeal Obamacare as soon as he’s elected. So to me, the choice going forward is very clear,” he said.
The gaffe is potentially damning for Jindal, who is considered a top pick to run as vice president alongside Romney.
“Obamacare” has been the word of the week (aside from SCOTUS) since the Supreme Court’s decision was announced to uphold the mandate, which will make Medicaid widely available and change the rules set by health care providers. It will also tax individuals who don’t have health insurance by a certain time, most likely sometime in 2014. The controversial law could be repealed, however, something the Republican party is counting on.
“If Obamacare is not deemed constitutional, then the first three and a half years of this president’s term will have been wasted on something that has not helped the American people,” Mitt Romney said. “If it is deemed to stand, then I’ll tell you one thing. Then we’ll have to have a president — and I’m that one — that’s gonna get rid of Obamacare. We’re gonna stop it on day one.”
President Obama countered with, “It’s the right thing to do that we’ve got 3 million young people who are on their parent’s health insurance plans that didn’t have it before,” the president explained. “It’s the right thing to do to give seniors discounts on their prescription drugs. It’s the right thing to do to give 30 million Americans health insurance that didn’t have it before.”