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Oh, Hillary… |
by Vas :: Filed Under Elections 2008 :: February 23rd, 2008 @ 6:05 pm EST
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First plagiarism, and now calling for Obama to be ashamed for printing the truth. She won't even give a clear answer to a thrice-repeated straight question - This woman wants to make us buy healthcare whether we want it (or can afford it) or not.
And there's a google trends video that's pretty impressive, even if it is just based off search pings.
The Google Trends video is really interesting. As for the first video, I've largely ignored the health care debates but the video is certainly provocative - still I wish they wouldn't have called her a Marxist. I think it's not only inaccurate but also unfair, and we can't keep swatting down political ideas we don't like by calling them marxist or fascist. Sadly, I think her comments are more banal than that: just another example of that famous Clinton triangulation, and never coming out directly and saying something bold and imaginative.
i wholeheartedly agree with alex. i found that first video rather irritating too. and calling someone like hillary clinton a marxist is appallingly idiotic. anyway, given that the issue at stake is healthcare, calling her a marxist could even be construed as complimentary, as least insofar as the political left (at the extremity of which purported marxists are supposedly to be found) is generally very much more supportive the welfare state, i.e. socialism. though i also agree with hillary that universal healthcare is a must, it seems that the u.s. is pretty much incapable of instituting it, due, of course, to a panoply of factors. the suggestion, therefore, that universal healthcare be mandated by the state is commendable, though it becomes absurd as soon as citizens are required to pay out of their own pocket. this should be the domain of the state. but perhaps i'm just spoiled by the fact that i come from a social democracy with a crumbling welfare system where healthcare is a given, it's normal, it's the responsibility of the state and it's taken for granted as it should be.
The healthcare issue is a tough one. The problem is first and foremost, both Clinton and Obama's plans kinda suck. Neither is really single payer, they still feed the insurance industry, and they both have big problems. That said, Hillary's is a bit better, but I personally see the difference as minor.
The debate that seems to be raging concerns politics, not policy so much. Most people think that we'll only really get one shot at healthcare reform, so we better do it right. That means that if we pass the Obama plan, we get stuck with the worse one. So, the question is can we pass a better plan, even one better than Hillary's? And what role will the President play in all this, seeing as how it's Congress who writes the actual laws.