Can we talk?

Dear Kossacks, could we have a Sunday morning heart to heart?  

This is an important subject, but one that's been troubling me, so it's difficult to know how and where to begin.

I suppose it began with a little comment I made in a diary about Hillary Clinton's health plan. As many of you know I received an email from a Kossack I love, eugene. As I told you earlier in the week, he was disappointed, he thought I was in some sense giving Clinton a pass on an imperfect health plan. I'm not. All of the Democratic healthcare plans must be improved.

Not that anyone should give a rat's ass, I'm going to tell you from my heart, how I feel.

Yesterday, I bumped into Jeffrey Feldman with his beautiful wife.

We chatted for a few minutes. I told Jeffrey's wife, who had missed YearlyKos because she was studying for the New York Bar Exam, that her husband did all of us proud with his Presidential Forum duties.

Then, I said to Jeffrey, "I really don't get it, why is Hillary so distrusted by the netroots on Daily Kos?"  At the risk of quoting a fellow Kossack, Jeffrey didn't have an answer. Then Jeffrey told me something I wasn't aware of, he said Hillary would be on all the news shows this morning. He said something to the effect, she's moving aggressively on the health plan.

I say, you go girl Senator Clinton. If she owns the healthcare headlines, then more power to her--and us, and healthcare reform. When Hillary Clinton talks about healthcare reform, she engages the American people, she neutralizes the Republican lie machine, she wins and so do we.

That's right, she's not offering us single-payer--none of them are. Shame on all of them.

Then yesterday, ezdidit, another great Kossack reminded me of a comment Hillary Clinton made a while back.  You bet, Clinton made a huge mistake here, and I wish like hell she'd acknowledge it.

don't trust her eve...in february she said

that she would "have a conversation," "explore options," "hear from both sides."

Universal health care coverage by the end of my second term
Q: Many experts project that it would cost between $90 billion and $120 billion to actually achieve universal health care for everyone in America. Is comprehensive reform achievable financially?

A: We already spend more money than anybody else in the world, by about $800 billion, and we have 47 million uninsured. We're also at a competitive disadvantage because other countries either provide health care or don't, and our companies are trying to be competing in a global economy. So I want to figure out how we provide universal health care without putting billions more into the system. Let's get prescription drug prices down by negotiating with the drug companies, for example. I am going around the country, and I'm asking people's advice, then I'm going to be proposing a specific plan. You know, President Kennedy said in his inauguration that he wanted to have a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Well, I want to have universal health care coverage by the end of my second term.
Source: 2007 AFSCME Democratic primary debate in Carson City Nevada Feb 21, 2007

by ezdidit on Sun Sep 23, 2007 at 03:26:37 AM PDT

But because one of your children makes a mistake doesn't mean you don't continue loving them.

So here's what I'm asking. Isn't it possible to love all our children? I love all of them. Some of them I love more than others, but these are all pretty damn good children.

That's right, Biden fucked up big time with his awful, disgusting, pandering, vomitus vote for the bankruptcy bill. He should come clean and and speak openly about why he sided with the banking industry over the American people. But if your child fucks up and refuses to apologize, you hope in their soul, they've in some sense internalized what they did wrong. You hope they will do better in the future. I'm speaking to you, Joe Biden.

But may I tell you something else? I look at Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney and I see the Devil and the Devil's assistant.

I look at the Rethuglican criminals running for president, yes, criminals, and well, you don't want to know what I think.

I look at our team, and I see eight angels. But even angels have flaws.

We Democrats are so damn blessed. We have a bunch of wonderful children angels who will lead us to victory. But you want me to tell you something, none of our angels are perfect.

They're all human, and they're all great Americans. And I'm human, and I'm not perfect. Hell, I'll bet even Markos Moulitsas has a flaw or two.  Only one human being doesn't make mistakes--Mr. Bush.

Everyone who reads Daily Kos knows the issue that concerns me more than anything else. And, if you don't already know it, I'm going to share a secret with you. None of the Democratic health plans are perfect. Anyone other than Dennis saying anything about single-payer? Have I missed something?

A couple of our angels candidates barely have healthcare reform plans.

Which brings me to why I decided to write this diary. I read this very worrisome editorial in the New York Times.

This is the truth, dear friends.

The Battle Over Health Care

In 2008, when it comes to health care, which is emerging as a defining domestic issue, voters will find stark differences in philosophy and commitment between Democrats and Republicans.

. . .Sadly, none of the leading candidates, in either party, has the vision or the political courage to propose radical solutions for the big underlying problem behind America’s health care crisis: the inexorably rising costs.

. . .None of them is proposing a "single payer" system run by the government. And all bend over backward to reassure people that they can maintain their current coverage if they like it. Their political goal is to head off opposition from those who fear that their own coverage might suffer in the course of covering some 47 million uninsured people.

. . .All three would require insurers to accept everyone without regard to pre-existing conditions, would provide tax subsidies to low-income people, and would establish purchasing pools to help individuals get low group rates.

There would be a menu of options for people dissatisfied with their current policies because of high costs or limited benefits, including both private health plans and a public program that would compete alongside them. That would provide an interesting test of whether government or private plans are more effective and popular, a matchup that critics of "government-run" programs seem determined to avoid.

The Clinton plan has an innovative proposal to limit the premiums that families have to pay to a certain percentage of their income, as yet undefined. That is a welcome protection for consumers but could cause problems if medical costs continue to rise far faster than wages.

http://www.nytimes.com/...

And this was the demoralizing final paragraph. This is what prompted my comments here today.

Given the wide split between Republican and Democratic approaches, the polarized politics in Washington, and the overriding need to find a way out of the morass in Iraq, it will be an uphill battle to achieve consensus on health care any time soon. But at least voters will have a clear choice of which way the candidates are headed.

Healthcare reform is by no means assured--even with a Democratic president.

At the very least, as we go forward, please keep in mind a  bottom line issue. I would beg any Kossack writing about the Clinton Health Care Plan, not to refer to it as HillaryCare.  This is a right wing smear.

Speaking for myself, I'm keeping an open mind, and I'm going to continue to hold all of their feet to the fire. All of these plans must be improved.

The next Democratic President must commit to signing far-reaching and groundbreaking healthcare reform into law in his or her first term as president. This is non-negotiable.

John Edwards deserves the thanks of the American people for listening to our anguish and responding early on with a very worthy health care reform plan which set the standard for the Clinton plan.

And God Bless John Edwards for always pushing the envelope. His bold policy announcement--No coverage for us, no coverage for THEM is long overdue.