Democrats and Republicans » In a speech in Massachusetts last week, Obama noted that Democrats weren’t big fans of Medicare Part D when it was implemented in 2006, but didn’t try to torpedo it.
"Democrats weren’t happy with a lot of the aspects of the law because, in part, it added hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit, it wasn’t paid for — unlike the Affordable Care Act, which will actually help lower the deficit," Obama said. "But, you know what, once it was the law, everybody pitched in to try to make it work.
Democrats weren’t about to punish millions of seniors just to try to make a point or settle a score. So Democrats worked with Republicans to make it work. And I’m proud of Democrats for having done that. It was the right thing to do. Because now, about 90 percent of seniors like what they have."
Leavitt said Obama’s comment "makes me smile," suggesting it is a rather generous portrayal of the Democrats’ reaction to Medicare Part D.
The former governor said Democrats didn’t criticize Part D because of its cost, but because they preferred an even larger, more-generous program. And while Democrats didn’t wage an all-out campaign to undermine that law, as the Republicans are doing with Obamacare, they did call for a one-year delay in its implementation.