Romney sounds like nominee after win in New Hampshire

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney may well end up being the Republican nominee for president, but his victory speech Tuesday night in the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary suggests that he already sees himself as the party’s standard bearer.

Except for 27 words aimed at some of the other candidates in the race for the GOP nomination, Romney directed his political attacks at President Barack Obama — and his supporters in Manchester roared their approval.

Romney, who won the Iowa caucuses by just eight votes and captured the New Hampshire primary with 39 percent of the vote, has the momentum going into the South Carolina primary on Jan. 21 and the Florida primary on Jan. 31. If he wins both, it will be difficult, if not impossible, for the other candidates to catch him.

That will be unfortunate, given Super Tuesday on March 6 when 13 states and the Virgin Islands hold primaries and caucuses. Ohio is the leader of the pack, and given its importance in presidential elections, a full-blown Republican contest is necessary.

Why? Because the issues that Romney raised Tuesday night in criticizing President Obama’s three years in office are ones that directly affect Ohio. They should get a full airing.

For instance, the GOP frontrunner said that if elected president he will repeal “Obamacare,” the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is designed, among other things, to expand access to health insurance to over 30 million Americans and increase insurance coverage for pre-existing conditions.

In Ohio, about 4 million people are without health care coverage and, therefore, have to pay for medical care out of their own pockets or seek treatment in community hospitals, if they qualify, or hospital emergency rooms.

What would Romney do with those Ohioans after he repealed the affordable care act? Indeed, what would he do about the 30 million Americans nationally who are to be covered under the new law?

Such questions demand answers — which won’t be forthcoming if the race for the nomination is all but over by the time Ohio’s primary rolls around.

“When it comes to the economy, my highest priority as president will be worrying about your job, not saving my own,” Romney told his supporters in New Hampshire.

What’s his plan?

There is a difference between worrying about people who aren’t working or are struggling to hold on to the jobs they have and laying out a detailed plan to put people back to work. How does his position square with his opposition to the federal bailout of General Motors and Chrysler when they were on the verge of bankruptcy?

The federal government’s intervention saved thousands of auto industry jobs in this country and triggered huge investments by GM and Chrysler in plants in the U.S.

General Motors, which has one of the most successful assembly plants right here in the Mahoning Valley, is poised to retain its No. 1 standing in the world.

Can Romney credibly demonstrate how this success story would have been possible without the federal bailout?

At some point, Republicans running for president will have to offer more than biting criticism of President Obama. Ohio should be that point.