The Republicans need to point out that in Massachusetts, where Mitt Romney inflicted a version of Obamacare on the state, the waiting time to see a doctor in Boston is now 63 days. They need to stress that any rationing will be felt primarily by the elderly and will lead to premature deaths.
Finally, Republicans need to explain their own proposals for reforming health care -- including Medical Savings Accounts and expansions of current tax breaks to encourage people and small businesses to purchase insurance.
Then, Republicans need to keep up a steady drumfire of criticism of the president's proposals. They need to:
-- Attack the proposed cuts in Medicare.
-- Criticize the individual mandate as unconstitutional and paint a vivid picture of how much it will cost young families.
-- Demand that young people be permitted to purchase catastrophic coverage to satisfy any mandate rather than full coverage they don't need.
-- Spell out, in detail, how the tax on medical devices will raise the cost of pacemakers, automated wheelchairs, arterial stints, prosthetic limbs and all manner of necessary medical equipment.
-- Attack the proposal to make a taxpayer spend 10 percent of his income, as opposed to 7.5 percent at present, on medical expenses in order to deduct them. Expose this tax as a tax on the sick.
-- Criticize the idea that people could be imprisoned for failing to have health insurance or to pay the fine the legislation imposes. There is a big difference between tax evasion and failing to have health insurance.
With proper preparation, the Republicans can turn this health care summit into a nationally televised town meeting such as frustrated Democratic congressmen last August.