Clinton Opens Her Campaign With Health Insurance Plan

[Herman Munster]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/22/us/politics/22clinton.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin

With a 4-year-old girl clutching her hand, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton began her newborn presidential campaign yesterday at a Manhattan health care clinic, announcing legislation that would significantly expand federal health insurance for Americans under age 18.

Mrs. Clinton said her husband, Bill, and their daughter, Chelsea, would play “support system” roles for her, and she pledged to continue protecting New York’s interests in Washington even as she campaigns in Iowa and New Hampshire.

She said she wanted to be president because she was “worried about our country” and wanted to “put it back on the right course.”

She made no reference to the other seven Democratic candidates, other than to say the race would be a great contest and that “a lot of talented people” were running.

[durrrty libby]

1. That is an excellent start

[oasis]

2. It'll take a village "to put this country back on the right course". Hill

knows how to orchestrate the course correction.

[napi21]

3. Good. I hope she reminds everybody that she tried to fix this mess

before it got as bad as it is today, and the Pubs tarred & feathered her for it! We wouldn't be in this mess if she could have gotten her health care plan passedway back when!

[MannyGoldstein]

6. Change - Not Fix n/t

[janx]

4. This is not a good strategy.

She screwed it up last time, though she meant well. Couldn't she have waited at least a couple of weeks? Oh man...

[rocktivity]

7. I agree--why dredge up all that excess baggage

when there are so many other Repub policies she could be promising to fix?

:shrug:
rocknation

[journalist3072]

10. I don't think she really screwed it up last time. The lobbyists went out there in full force

and misrepresented what her plan was all about. Remember those Harry & Louise ads? The lobbyists on the right wanted people to believe they would not have any choice in who their doctor would be, etc. They lied about what was in her plan.

I think the major thing that she took away from that, is that you don't always need a major new government program to get things done. After her health care plan failed, you saw the Clinton Administration doing good things with health-care in smaller ways. They passed smaller bills. For example, the bill that stopped what President Clinton called "drive-by" deliveries. Meaning it was no longer acceptable to just kick a woman out of the hospital 24 hours after giving birth.

[Swamp Rat]

5. I guess Hillary's plan does not include millions of adults like me with no health insurance.

Among other reasons, this precludes me from voting for her.

[Phredicles]

8. The problem with her last health care reform proposal was that it

was full of half-measures and overly deferential to the insurance and pill indiustries. Is this any better.

I'm growing increasingly impatient with the lack of huevos among our elected leaders to back the single-payer system endorsed by the majority of Americans. I'm not singling H. Clinton out here, but this does represent another such example.

[Nite Owl]

11. This isn't even anything new

all it is is an extension of a bill that is scheduled to be renewed. She wants to make it more available to those with a higher income. This is part of her job as a Senator really not a new proposal:

Mrs. Clinton’s proposed legislation would renew the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides money to states to cover Americans under age 18 whose families earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid. The 10-year-old program, which now covers four million children, is to expire this fall.



http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/22/us/politics/22clinton.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin

[mnhtnbb]

14. John Edwards supports universal health care NOW see link

You'll have to scroll down the article, but he is in favor of universal health care.

http://www.johnedwards.com/news/headlines/ap20061230/

[RB TexLa]

9. in her position she should never mention any opponent's name

either in the primary or the general if she is in it.

[babylonsister]

12. She had better start addressing Iraq, her stance, and the future. Until we are

out of there, there will be no room or money to address US priorities, and there are many.

[Disturbed]

13. The Children is a sweet, safe issue.

Ya see, Hillary is for "The Children". Is anybody against them?