Top White House Aide: Romney 'the Godfather' of Obama Health Care

Senior White House adviser David Plouffe on Sunday called GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney "the godfather" of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

"Mitt Romney is the godfather of our health care plan," Plouffe said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "If he is president, remarkably he is running away from that past, and he says he is going to try to throw all this away. We’re going to have a big fight about health care again."

Romney has come under repeated attack on the campaign trail for the health care legislation he signed into law as the governor of Massachusetts. The state law included an individual mandate, which Obama's Affordable Care Act put in place on a national level.

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to begin hearing arguments about the Affordable Care Act Monday.

Plouffe, who managed Obama's 2008 campaign, made the Sunday morning talk show rounds, also appearing on ABC's "This Week," CNN's "State of the Union" and Fox News' "Fox News Sunday." He repeated the "godfather" remark on "This Week."

Asked by NBC's David Gregory whether Romney could be credited with the individual mandate if it turned out to be popular, Plouffe said, "Maybe in 2016 when he is a professor somewhere or whatever he is doing he can remark on that."