Yesterday, Hillary Clinton told us that there is "no debating the moral urgency of strengthening our healthcare system for children and all Americans."
The trouble is that she feels that moral urgency less than any other Democrat. If it's so urgent to her, why is she missing union deadlines for coming up with a universal health care plan? And why does she want to put off universal health care until a hypothetical second term that she may never get?
Despite having worked on the issue since the 1990s, Hillary has missed the SEIU's August 1 deadline for introducing a universal healthcare plan:
Hillary seems set to blow one of this race's early deadlines: The Service Employees' international Union's August 1 deadline for releasing a plan for universal healthcare...
[SEIU Spokeswoman Stephanie Mueller] said she didn't consider the first outlines of Clinton's healthcare policy (not to mention 1994) a full plan.
"She hasn’t issued a plan that would cover everyone," she said.
The even bigger problem has to do with the time frame she's setting for universal health care -- the end of her second term. Who knows if she'll ever get there? And even if she does, there are very good reasons to get it done a lot faster than that. Consider the number of Senators up for election in each of the next three election years:
Year Dem Rep
2008 12 21
2010 15 19
2012 24 9
With so many GOP targets up for election in 2008, we're almost guaranteed big gains. 2010 could be a good year as well. But with 24 of our people facing election in 2012, our Senate majority will probably be significantly reduced. We're going to need big numbers in the Senate to pass any plan, let alone a very progressive one. Even if you're guaranteed a second term -- which Hillary won't be -- intentionally waiting until after 2012 to pass universal health care is madness.