2026年6月4日 美国东部时间下午1:48 / 福克斯新闻
爱荷华州共和党州长候选人在2009年集会上用标志性法案难住奥巴马
这位爱荷华州新任共和党州长候选人在2009年科罗拉多州的一场集会上，就奥巴马医改提出的问题让时任总统巴拉克·奥巴马措手不及。（图片来源：奥巴马白宫团队）
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这位爱荷华州共和党州长候选人向福克斯新闻数字频道回顾了自己在2009年一场围绕时任总统同名立法的市政厅会议上走红的经历。
扎克·莱恩（Zach Lahn）周二晚间爆冷获胜，击败了前总统特朗普支持的共和党众议员兰迪·芬斯特拉（Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa），赢得该党州长提名。
但17年前，当时还是科罗拉多大学博尔德分校学生的莱恩，在一场时任第44任总统奥巴马宣传《平价医疗法案》（即奥巴马医改）的市政厅会议上质问了他。这段旧视频在他周二获胜后走红。
扎克·莱恩在2026年6月2日周二爱荷华州共和党州长初选获胜后向支持者发表讲话。（图片来源：扎克·莱恩竞选团队 via 脸书）
当时这段视频被已故保守派电台巨头拉什·林博（Rush Limbaugh）转发，他称赞莱恩“令人惊叹”，并表示莱恩“用一个奥巴马无法回答的简单问题，彻底摧毁了奥巴马医改的整个基础”。
这位将参与激烈爱荷华州州长竞选的候选人在5月份将这段视频发布到了自己的社交媒体上，但在周二的初选结束后才获得广泛传播。
关键2028年白宫选举周期州的州长候选人宣布创纪录筹款成绩
莱恩周四向福克斯新闻数字频道回顾了当时的场景，他记得自己被叫到提问时有多惊讶。莱恩和室友购买了2009年在大章克申举行的活动门票，然后往返8小时驱车两次参加活动——第一次是去取票，几天后再次前往参加市政厅会议。
“你们知道，那时候我还年轻，在科罗拉多大学博尔德分校读大学，所以我对整个医疗保健讨论非常兴奋，”他说。“这算是我进入一些政治讨论的开端。”
巴拉克·奥巴马总统2009年8月15日在科罗拉多州大章克申中央高中与科罗拉多大学学生扎克·莱恩交谈，讨论医疗保险改革和自付费用上限。（图片来源：克雷格·F·沃克/《丹佛邮报》）
2009年与奥巴马对话时，莱恩说：“我们都知道，降低经济中物价的最佳方式是增加竞争。”
“一家提供保险的私营企业怎么可能与这样一个实体竞争：它不必担心盈利，不必缴纳当地财产税，也不受当地法规约束？公司怎么可能与之竞争？”他质疑道。
共和党人在补贴截止日期前就奥巴马医改是该保留还是废除产生分歧
“我不要泛泛而谈——我不是在寻找哲学辩论。我只是想问一个问题，”他坚定地说。
奥巴马感谢他的提问，随后在奥巴马医改辩论中首次表示，他可能并不支持公共保险选项——该选项本可让美国人 alongside 私营保险购买政府运营的医疗保险。
巴拉克·奥巴马总统2009年8月15日在科罗拉多州大章克申中央高中体育馆举行的医疗保健市政厅会议上回答问题。（图片来源：约翰·摩尔/盖蒂图片社）
“当然，如果纳税人站在公共保险选项背后不断投入更多资金，他们肯定无法竞争，”奥巴马回应道。“这当然不公平，所以我已经说过，我不会支持那种公共保险选项，因为那只会意味着我们口袋里要花更多钱，而医疗质量不会有太大改善。”
【观看：医生出身的议员指责奥巴马医改推高医疗成本】
奥巴马医改最终通过时并未包含公共保险选项。
“最终，他无意间首次提到他们可能不会在奥巴马医改中加入公共保险选项，”莱恩告诉福克斯新闻数字频道。“就在那之后，福克斯新闻和CNN等媒体都想采访我，因为奥巴马刚刚表示他的计划中的这个关键部分可能不会被纳入，而最终它确实没有被纳入。”
在那之后大约一分钟左右，奥巴马结结巴巴地回答了莱恩关于竞争的问题，公开纠结于私营保险公司也不得不以高利率借贷的问题——而这是政府不必承担的另一项成本。
特朗普将通过一个意想不到的联盟让美国重拾健康
莱恩告诉福克斯新闻数字频道，他当时对奥巴马的回答并不太满意，称其为“空话连篇”。
“我觉得现在大多数政客都这样，他们给不了我真正的答案，要么就是回避问题，永远触及不到真正的核心，”他说。
扎克·莱恩在2026年6月2日周二击败爱荷华州共和党州长初选对手后举拳庆祝。（图片来源：扎克·莱恩竞选团队 via 脸书）
莱恩是一名农场主兼商人，他的竞选活动很大一部分围绕着让爱荷华州重拾健康展开，并得到了保守派运动MAHA派系的大力支持。他现在将与爱荷华州民主党审计官罗布·桑德（Rob Sand）展开角逐。
尽管他曾离开政坛数年，专注于经营自己的生意和管理家族农场，但莱恩对困扰爱荷华州民众的问题的热情将他重新拉回了政坛。
点击此处下载福克斯新闻APP
“我已经有十多年没有参与这类事务了，但我竞选的这些议题我确实都很关心，无论是越来越多的年轻人离开爱荷华州、我们的家族农场、我们的教育体系，还是我们处于全球最高水平的癌症发病率。”
“作为一个州，我不知道我们还能撑多久不去解决这些问题。”
彼得·达布罗斯卡（Peter D’Abrosca）是福克斯新闻数字频道的政治记者。
在X平台关注彼得：@pmd_reports。新闻线索请发送至 peter.dabrosca@fox.com。
Iowa GOP governor nominee recounts viral clash that put Obama on the spot at 2009 town hall
June 4, 2026 1:48pm EDT / Fox News
Iowa GOP gubernatorial nominee stumped Obama on signature legislation at 2009 rally
The newly-minted Republican nominee for governor in Iowa put then-President Barack Obama on his heels after with question about Obamacare at a 2009 rally in Colorado. (Credit: The Obama White House)
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The Republican nominee for governor in Iowa pulled back the curtain for Fox News Digital on the time he went viral for stumping Barack Obama at a 2009 town hall centered on the then-president’s namesake legislation.
Zach Lahn pulled off an upset victory Tuesday night when he defeated Trump-backed Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, for the party’s nomination for governor.
But 17 years ago, when he was a student at the University of Colorado Boulder, Lahn confronted Obama at a town hall where the 44th president was promoting the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. The old clip went viral after his Tuesday win.
Zach Lahn speaks to supporters after winning the Iowa GOP gubernatorial primary election on Tuesday, June 2, 2026.(Zach Lahn for Governor via Facebook)
At the time of the exchange, the video was circulated by late conservative radio titan Rush Limbaugh, who praised Lahn as “amazing,” and said that with “one simple question that Obama can’t answer, [he] nukes the entire foundation of Obamacare.”
The candidate in what will be a hotly contested Iowa gubernatorial race posted the clip to his social media in May, but it gained widespread traction after Tuesday’s primary election.
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Lahn recounted the moment to Fox News Digital on Thursday and remembered how shocked he was to be called upon at the event. Lahn and his roommate purchased tickets to the 2009 event in Grand Junction and then drove eight hours round trip twice to attend the event — first to pick up tickets and again days later to attend the town hall.
“You know, I was young, and, I was in college at the time, going to University of Colorado Boulder, and so I was pretty fired up about this whole healthcare discussion,” he said. “It was just my entrance, sort of, into some of the political discussions.”
President Barack Obama speaks with CU student Zach Lahn during a town hall meeting at Central High School in Grand Junction, Colo., on Aug. 15, 2009, discussing health insurance reform and limits on out-of-pocket expenses.(Craig F. Walker/The Denver Post)
Speaking to Obama in 2009, Lahn said: “We all know the best way to reduce prices in this economy is to increase competition.”
“How in the world can a private corporation providing insurance compete with an entity that does not have to worry about making a profit, does not have to pay local property taxes, they’re not subject to local regulations? How can a company compete with that?” he questioned.
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“I don’t want generalities — I’m not looking for philosophical arguments. I’m just asking a question,” he asserted.
Obama thanked him for the question, and then for the first time during the Obamacare debate, said he might not be in favor of the public option, which would have allowed Americans to buy government-run health insurance alongside private insurance.
President Barack Obama answers a question during a health care town hall meeting at Central High School gym in Grand Junction, Colo., on Aug. 15, 2009.(John Moore/Getty Images)
“Certainly they can’t compete if the taxpayer is standing behind the public option just shoveling more and more money in,” Obama replied. “That’s certainly not fair, and so I’ve already said I would not be in favor of a public option of that sort because that would just mean more expenses out of our pockets and we wouldn’t be seeing much improvement in quality.”
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There was no public option when Obamacare became law.
“Ultimately, what came out of it was, maybe in an inadvertent way, he mentioned for the first time that they might not have the public option in Obamacare,” Lahn told Fox News Digital. “Then right afterwards, Fox and CNN and these people wanted to talk to me because Obama had just said that this key part of his plan may not be included, and then it ended up not being included.”
For another minute or so, Obama stuttered through an answer to Lahn’s question about competition, wrestling publicly with the idea that private insurance companies would also have to borrow money at high interest rates, something else the government would not have to do.
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Lahn told Fox News Digital he wasn’t quite satisfied with Obama’s answer at the time, describing it as “word salad.”
“I feel like most politicians today, like, they can’t give me a real answer or they or they dance around something and never get to the real issue,” he said.
Zach Lahn raises his fist in celebration after defeating his primary opponent in Iowa’s GOP gubernatorial race on Tuesday, June 2, 2026.(Zach Lahn for Governor via Facebook)
Lahn, a farmer and businessman who has centered much of his campaign on making Iowa healthy again and was strongly backed by the MAHA wing of the conservative movement, now squares off with Democratic Auditor of Iowa Rob Sand.
Though he stepped away from politics for several years to build his business and run his family farm, Lahn’s passion for issues plaguing Iowans drew him back into the fold.
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“I really haven’t been involved in this in over a decade, and these issues that I’m running on I truly care about, whether it’s all these kids leaving Iowa, our family farms, our education system or the outlier cancer rate that we are in the world.”
“I don’t know how much longer we can go as a state without addressing these issues.”
Peter D’Abrosca is a reporter at Fox News Digital covering politics.
Follow Peter on X at @pmd_reports. Send story tips to peter.dabrosca@fox.com.
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