There seems to be some confusion regarding my position on Obama-care.  Let me clear the air.  

As I have stated in writing and in numerous speeches, Obama-care is one of the worst pieces of legislation ever passed in our nation’s history.  I will support any repeal effort if elected to the US House.  

Repeal for repeal’s sake, however, gets us nowhere.  We need a longer-term strategy to ensure we actually accomplish something.  The fact is, we simply do not have the votes in the US House and Senate to make a repeal effort successful and will not have the votes in 2011.
In order to repeal, we have to be veto-proof.  This is because the President has stated publicly on no less than four occasions, that he will veto any repeal effort.  Those statements are backed up by the arrogant belligerence he used to bully the healthcare vote through the Congress.  

To be veto-proof in the US Senate, we have to win 26 seats currently held by Democrats.  In 2010, there are only 15 Democrat seats up for re-election.  Even if we win every Democrat seat up for election in 2010, a feat that has never been accomplished, we still would be 11 seats short of being able to over-ride the President’s promised veto.  

To gain enough seats in the US House to be veto proof, we have to win 110 additional seats in the November election.  Our largest pick-up in the last twenty years was 54 seats in 1994.  In 2002, the last good GOP election, we picked up eight seats.  

Even if we had the best GOP year in 20 years, which I believe is possible, we will still lack the votes to override a veto.  

Which is why I would support any repeal bill, but also believe that we need to implement a more comprehensive strategy.  We need to reform the more onerous parts of the bill, de-fund other parts where we can, address some legitimate problems with our current healthcare system and build on the momentum of 2010 in order to gain larger numbers in 2012 and more importantly, win back the White House.

At that point, we can repeal Obama-care completely.  

My goal in going to Washington is to use common sense to address the pressing issues of the day, with a clear-headed understanding of what needs to be done and a strategy to produce positive results.

I am committed to any repeal effort, but marching into battle poorly equipped, hoping for victory without actually planning for it, will only result in failure.  We did not get into this mess overnight.  We will not get out of it overnight either.