Health Care Hypocrisy

Okay. Let's get this straight. When Hillary Clinton took on the project of getting universal health care to Americans in 1993-1994, she didn't include Congress in a way that was viewed as meaningful. (It happened to be my only criticism of her because it became an excuse to block reform and I thought she should know better.) Congress was livid. After all, how could an uppity Wellesley/Yale girl assemble a team with a representative of every interest group and come up with something that could have at least been a launching off point to reform?


The Obama administration has now elevated the issue again and has attempted to include everyone in its deliberations. Now, some critics are saying that we can't resolve the issue because too many people, including those in Congress, make it impossible to agree on anything that would pass.


Which is it? Do we want everyone to weigh in or only "experts"? Do they need to meet in an open tent on the White House lawn so it won't appear that the deliberations are "secret"? Frankly, I don't care. But to those involved with the issue now and who are bent on blocking any kind of reform, please don't ever tell us again that Hillary's approach to the problem lacked political savvy. Tell us the truth which, it appears, is that there were never enough elected representatives then or now who wanted any meaningful reform at all and will go as far as lying about the administration's outlines of a plan in order to kill any bill that comes before them.


I withdraw my criticism of Hillary on this issue. No matter which route she chose, she was going to lose. How depressing is that?