This story was posted yesterday at the NYT and appears on the front page today.  It is full of errors and misinformation and speculation.  I expect better from the NYT.  Unfortunately, comments at the NYT are closed.  Here is the link to the story.:

NYT article on Obama's health plan

The story focuses on whether or not the average family will really save $2500 a year on health insurance premiums under Senator Obama's universal health plan.  

More below the fold with a comparison with the McCain plan.

The health care crisis is so much worse than any of us imagined.  The latest statistics, as released in a new report yesterday, are staggering.

49.5 million without health insurance

25 million who are "underinsured" and facing huge medical bills they can't afford to pay

And the problem is no longer reserved for those with low incomes (<$20,000 per year) but is creeping into the middle class, having grown 300% just in the last 4 years for families that make between $20,000 - $40,000 a year..</p>

The crisis in health insurance and health care costs in this country has never been worse.

I know there was a short diary on Elizabeth Edward's remarks but I wanted to specifically address some things she said last night as they are deserving of much discussion.

I watched Elizabeth Edwards on Countdown with Keith Olberman last night and her statements were misleading and extraordinary all at the same time.  I want to start to say that I have always been a big fan of Elizabeth Edwards.

I want to comment on three things she said in the interview:

"A mandate is an essential ingredient in a universal health plan."

"We really care less about the human being who occupies the office than we do that that human being embraces these policies."

"If John McCain wants to endorse a universal health care plan, tomorrow, you know, I'll say that is a great plan."

The last few days have been big news day for smokers. Four big stories!

1. Three  studies, funded by governments in the US and Europe, were published yesterday in the journals Nature and Nature Genetics. They suggest that genetic markers may be responsible for tobacco addiction and lung cancer.  More on the implications of this below the fold.

2. Obama on Hardball's College Tour gave us a new language to speak to kids about smoking and quitting. More below the fold.

3. The Congress approved legislation enabling the FDA to regulate tobacco products. More below the fold.

4. On May 7, the updated federal clinical practice guidelines for treating tobacco dependence  will be released. More below the fold.

It has really been bothering me - the charges that Obama is all talk and no action.  Those of us who support him and have reviewed his record know there is no basis to this charge, but just to make sure, I went to the Congressional Record (www.thomas.gov) and did a search for bills sponsored or co-sponsored by Senator Obama in his three short years in the US Senate.  I searched the 109th and 110th Congresses which cover the years 2005-2007.

In a nut shell I found:

Senator Obama has sponsored or co-sponsored 570 bills in the 109th and 110th Congress.

Senator Obama has sponsored or co-sponsored 15 bills that have become LAW since he joined the Senate in 2005.

Senator Obama has also introduced amendments to 50 bills, of which 16 were adopted by the Senate.

His record is in fact quite impressive for a junior Senator from Illinois.  

Details below the fold.

There was an earlier diary here tonight on this topic and I wanted to provide some background.

Congressman Jim Cooper was an early endorser of Barack Obama's, and has appeared as a surrogate for the campaign on TV, but he is not hired by the campaign or worked for the campaign.  He volunteers as a supporter as most of the rest of us do.  Jim Cooper was in the early 90's and remains a centrist Democrat in the House of Representatives. He is one of the Democrat's that the next President must be able to work with if we are to enact health care reform with a goal of universal coverage.

David Brooks wrote an op-ed a few weeks ago about Cooper's cold reception by HRC when he met with her back in 93 and 94.  Cooper has been very critical of the "my way or the highway" approach she took back then.  

SOURCE: The Cooper Concerns
By DAVID BROOKS
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/davidbrooks/index.html?inline=nyt-per>

Published: February 5, 2008

The column below the fold . . .

I was in Vietnam over the New Year, and during the Iowa caucuses. When I learned Barack had won Iowa, I was elated.  I was on a bus, driving to the Mekong Delta from Saigon, and we stopped in a beautiful rubber tree forest. For as far as the eye could see, there were rubber trees in perfect rows stretching in all directions.  It was absolutely beautiful.

And a song came into my head as we pulled away and I stole a last glance at the rubber trees.  It has become my own personal theme song for Barack Obama and it fits perfectly with the YES WE CAN/ SI SE PUEDE chant of the campaign.

It is really corny, I know.  But I think it captures the spirit of the campaign and is a rejoinder to those who claim we are naive or are victims of false hope.

It was recorded and made most famous by Frank Sinatra.  My Mom was a big fan so I grew up with this song floating through my home and want to share it.  Hum it to yourself today and tonight as we wait for the primary results.

Enjoy!

In his op-ed (Feb 4), Paul Krugman demonstrated that he cannot see the forest for the trees. The question is not who has better details on enforcement/mandates; Congress will decide that. The question is who can achieve needed reforms? Obama has pledged to begin working immediately with Congress to take advantage of a very short window of opportunity to enact reform. Obama has committed to get health care reform enacted by the end of his first term. Hillary Clinton has made no such commitment; she says she will get it done “by the end of my second term.” She is also handicapped in her ability to “take on” the special interests; her campaign is financed by health insurance and pharmaceutical PACs and lobbyists; Obama has taken none of their money. If you want a President who will actually deliver health care reform, Barack Obama is your choice.  

This story just broke.  About 45 minutes ago, the California Senate Health Committee voted 10-1 not to move the bill out of committee, rendering it dead.

http://www.bizjournals.com/...

FROM NARAL PRO-CHOICE AMERICA

January 24, 2008

A Message to Pro-Choice Voters Regarding the Democratic Presidential
Primary

Nancy Keenan is president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.

This week Americans mark the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, a milestone that coincides with the 2008 presidential election. As we celebrate this occasion, and this critical time for women's reproductive freedom, NARAL Pro-Choice America is proud that we have such strong pro-choice candidates like

Sens. Hillary Clinton
http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/...  

and
Barack Obama
http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/...

and former Sen. John Edwards
http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/...

running for president.

Boy the people over at MyDD are hysterical by the so called revelation that Obama "lied" about supporting single payer.  The conversation here seems almost civil. So I thought I would revise and repost my diary here to see what happens.

The issue is about a statement Obama made in the past that he supports single payer, and his statement that he never proposed it.  Frankly, I don't understand what the stink is all about.  Thinking that single payer is the best way to get to universal coverage and never having actually proposed it do not seem like contradictory statements to me.  

The reality is that both Hillary and Barack understand that single payer is the best way to guarantee access to health care for All Americans.  And both understand that it is not politically feasible to just dump the current system and go wholesale into single payer.  It is possible to hold these two thoughts at the same time and there is nothing contradictory about doing so.

It is the 35th anniversary of the US Supreme Court's landmark decision, Roe v Wade, which recognized a women's right to privacy in making reproductive choices, including the right to an abortion.  On January 22, 1973, the  Supreme Court voted seven to two that a law in Texas that banned abortion, except to save a woman's life, was unconstitutional under the right to personal privacy.

Those opposed to this decision have been fighting it for 35 years, largely on religious and moral grounds.  And while they have been successful in biting around the edges of the decision and attempting to make it more difficult for women to get an abortion, the right to choose in the US remains the law of the land.

However, the Clinton campaign and its surrogates have led many women in the primary states to question Barack Obama's strong record on reproductive health and women's rights.

Below, I would like to set the record straight.

For anyone who is truly concerned about the crisis in the US health care system and who wants the next President to vigorously pursue a policy of universal coverage for all Americans, the contrasts between the candidates' positions  could not be clearer.  

In fact, I am amazed that none of the diaries here or elsewhere have picked up on the fact that both John Edwards and Barack Obama have promised to get to work on universal health insurance in their first year in Office, and that they have also promised to enact comprehensive health care reform by the end of their first term in Office.

And Mrs. Clinton, in sharp contrast, has made no such promises. And in fact, every time she has been asked the question directly of when she will enact universal health care for the American people, she does not even pretend that this is an issue she wants to address in her first term, if elected President.  It is not on her action agenda.  She has said she will enact universal coverage by the END OF HER SECOND TERM.

More below the fold:

The judge just ruled in the lawsuit by filed by the Nevada Teachers Union against the NV Democratic Party.  The suit has been overturned.  The lawsuit argued that allowing caucus sites on the LV strip for those who work within 2.5 miles of the strip was unfair to others who have to work on Saturday.  The court ruled that the Democratic Party was free to establish its own rules in how the caucus is conducted and stated that the caucus process was in fact fair.
So the NV Caucus will go ahead as planned on Saturday and the nine caucus sites set up on the LV strip will be open.  This is good news for the Culinary Workers Union who has endorsed Barack Obama, as many of those working on the strip are members of this union.  This is bad news for the Clintons, whose surrogates were behind the suit by the teachers.  What is interesting is that many teachers had asked their union to drop the suit, since teachers don't teach on Saturday.  The brewhaha was over the janitors who have to work at their schools and thus cannot go to their caucuses.  But there are many people in NV who have to work on Saturday and are at the mercy of management to let them take time off to caucus
ARE CAUCUSES FAIR?

Nevada holds its caucus on Saturday.  NV has only held one caucus ever and the turnout was only 9,000 people statewide.  It is anyone's guess how many people will come out this time.  I have heard estimates of 60,000 but no one really knows.  The question is how many people will be willing to take time out of their Saturday morning to participate.  The caucus starts at 11:30 a.m.

YOU HAVE TO BE AT YOUR CAUCUS LOCATION BY 11:00.  IF YOU ARE NOT IN LINE BEFORE 11:30, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE.

So if you live in NV, and it is getting close to 10:00 am, head on over to your caucus site and put off that last errand until after the caucus.  The caucuses should be over by 12:30-1:00 pm.

Diary follows below the fold.

Well, I am headed to Nevada tomorrow to spend 5 days canvassing before the caucus.  I have no idea what awaits me there.  I am truly  thankful that the Obama/Clinton truce has been called.  It was starting to make me lose faith that the Democratics can take back the White House in the fall, if this is how they conduct their primary.  I hope the bloggers and readers of Daily Kos will emulate the candidates in their desire for a more informed and respectful debate.

Confusion reigns in the public over the similarities and differences in the health care reform proposals that Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have released in their bid for the White House.  I leave John Edwards out of this discussion for purely efficiency reasons.  Edwards was the first to release a health care reform plan and Hillary Clinton's plan is identical to Edwards in all but the smallest of details.  So that when I refer to the Clinton plan, I am also referring to Edwards'.

Health care reform is a very complex subject and it is difficult to summarize such enormous proposals simply and clearly -- in a way the public can understand.  But I think it is critical that we try.  There is so much misinformation floating around, it is time to lay it all out for everyone to see.

There are many people in the US who have not made up their minds about which candidate they prefer and there are others for whom their decision just hasn't jelled yet.  This diary entry is for them.  I'd be happy to answer any questions and provide citations for the points I make. But I do not view this diary as a scholarly tome.  It is a blog based on 30 years of health policy research and experience.  

Many people still do not understand who Barack Obama is and what he has done and where he has been and why he will be make the best President of the United States.  I am just one voice, and do not speak on behalf of the campaign, but I would like to share my reasons for passionately supporting Barack Obama.