“On the health care bill, Mr. Romney was one of the biggest promoters of the individual mandate in Massachusetts,” the president said. “His whole idea was we shouldn’t have people who can afford to get health insurance to not buy it and then force you or me to pay for it when he gets sick. That’s irresponsible. That’s exactly what’s included as part of my health care plan.”…

“The fact that a whole bunch of Republicans in Washington suddenly said this is a tax — for six years, he said it wasn’t, and now he suddenly reversed himself. And so, the question becomes ‘Are you doing that because of politics? Are you abandoning a principle that you fought for for six years simply because you’re getting pressure for two days?’” Obama said.