What were you doing in 1993?

Hillary Clinton was fighting to get a health care plan implemented. She obviously saw the need before most of us knew it was a problem.

We have a republican congress to thank for the plan being squashed.

and ready to vote for Barack Obama.

Didn't you post that you had voted for him in 2000 and 2004?

who crushed it in 1994. The Dems were in power until 1995, after the November 94 election of Republicans. The spineless Dems, who were so used to their Reagan/Bush complacency stopped Clinton from getting health care reform passed. The Dems didn't stand up for it, let the Clintons out to dry, which made them look unprincipled, only concerned with power, and lost congress.

I don't know what makes people think she won't cave again.

along with Harry and Louise, and the Gingrich-obsessed media

you're right.

I don't blame the Clinton for '94 because the underlying causes had been mounting for years. All that needed to happen were a few sparks to get the flame going and Clinton provided those. But they were bound to happen sooner or later.

Even if our Congress is more disciplined this time, I still don't think Hillary can out strategize the Republicans and the health care industry to get reform passed. It's nothing against Hillary, but I think that the health insurance industry is simply too powerful and too well funded to be beaten by working inside Washington.

If we're going to get health care reform, people need to collectively get off of their asses and demand it. We need to make as many Congressmen and Senators as possible scared shitless that if they don't vote for health care reform, they will be tossed out on their asses in the next election. Public outrage is the only weapon that is powerful enough to take on a well funded entrenched lobby.

Obama is our best chance of inspiring people to do this, IMO.

There were still many Democratic congressmen in the South that had been able to hold out after Civil Rights until 1994.

Loved it there, too.

I was not exactly a legal immigrant and had to return to the states periodically.


Am in the SW now and have NO healthcare.

Hillary's plan in '93 was a mess...nothing very clear. It was a start but perhaps not the best start and it pretty much shut down any further attempts for too long.


Kucinich has the right plan...but the "for profit" people have control.

I paid close attention to her health care plan and it was impossible to understand. And most of the country DID know it was a problem, that's why we elected someone who said he'd solve it.

It didn't pass for the exact reason Obama said it didn't pass, they didn't bring the people into the debate and include our opinions or give us ownership of the plan.

Americans weren't hurting badly enough yet to be bothered to try to understand it.

Not bothered to understand it?

Sheesh.

Maybe it shouldn't have been that tough.

Here it is

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c103:H.R.3600.IH:

Getting out the vote!

Article from 1993. SEE OBAMA ENFRANCHISING VOTERS.....
and not taking any shit from those POLITICIANS attempting to game the system.

Vote of Confidence
A huge black turnout in November 1992 altered Chicago's electoral landscape—and raised a new political star: a 31-year-old lawyer named Barack Obama.

In the final, climactic buildup to November's general election, with George Bush gaining ground on Bill Clinton in Illinois and the once-unstoppable campaign of senatorial candidate Carol Moseley Braun embroiled in allegations about her mother's Medicare liability, one of the most important local stories managed to go virtually unreported: The number of new voter registrations before the election hit an all-time high. And the majority of those new voters were black. More than 150,000 new African-American voters were added to the city's rolls. In fact, for the first time in Chicago's history-including the heyday of Harold Washington-voter registrations in the 19 predominantly black wards outnumbered those in the city's 19 predominantly white ethnic wards, 676,000 to 526,000.

None of this, of course, was accidental. The most effective minority voter registration drive in memory was the result of careful handiwork by Project Vote!, the local chapter of a not-for-profit national organization.

"It was the most efficient campaign I have seen in my 20 years in politics," says Sam Burrell, alderman of the West Side's 29th Ward and a veteran of many registration drives.

At the head of this effort was a little-known 31-year-old African-American lawyer, community organizer, and writer: Barack Obama.

To understand the full implications of Obama's effort, you first need to understand how voter registration often has worked in Chicago. The Regular Democratic Party spearheaded most drives, doing so using one primary motivator: money. The party would offer bounties to registrars for every new voter they signed up (typically a dollar per registration).

The campaigns did produce new voters. "But bounty systems don't really promote participation," says David Orr, the Cook County clerk, whose office is responsible for voter registration efforts in the Cook County suburbs. "When the money dries up, the voters drop out." Nor did the Democratic Party always vigorously push registration among minorities, Orr says. "It's not that they discouraged it. They just never worked hard to ensure it would happen."

MORE
http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/January-1993/Vote-of-Confidence

:shrug:

OH, the humanity! :rofl:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4307505&mesg_id=4307505

the parking ticket argument is retarded. only an absolute idiot thinks it's an issue.

I am not an idiot.

twiddling my thumbs, waiting for somebody to found DU.

She was resistant.

of the Health Insurance industy Reps.

Um -that was one of the basic themes of the 1992 election- and the failure was pretty much all Hillary's for drafting up a plan without transparency that ended up so complicated that even public health officials didn't fully understand it.

Then as now, she tried to be everything for everyone, and came out with nothing in the end.

healthcare reform. In 1993, the Democrats held both houses of congress.

The reason Hillary lost was she shut out the grass roots groups who had been working for 20 years for healthcare reform and invited in the insurance industry to help her on her project. They strung her out and then betrayed any kind of reform, even the rather marginal plan her and the insurance companies came up with.

Don't kid yourself.

Heck Ross Perot was calling for Healthcare reform. Remember?

"We are paying for front row seats but we are sitting in the back balcony"

But she gave the concept of universal health care more national attention. At least admit that much.

God, the woman could help an old lady across the street and some here would swear it was to try and steal her purse.

industry, and then to add insult to injury, they screwed her.

She actually set back reform.

After she dropped the ball, "incremental" become the buzz word.

We had high hopes but it was all for naught. We didn't have a fighter leading the effort.

You are very wrong about the Republican Congress. It was a Democratic Congress that rejected her.

And I was relieved when it failed. It was a give away to the insurance companies just like the one
she is offering this time.

Her disaster set healthcare reform back over 15 years. We still do not have it.
And it was a major contributing factor to the loss of the Democratic Congress in 94.

I am sure Obama was as well doing something positive with his life. They are both good, caring people.

She did gather her information in secret meetings with the insurance companies and others.
I did not like her lack of opendoor meetings at the time.

Reminds me of the Cheney and the oil companies.

Her execution was poor and very costly. The law of unintended consequences came into play.

I agree that Hillary is a caring person. I have always thought that she was personally more
left than Bill governed.

Thank you for saying that Obama is caring as well. I am so used to his being trashed around here.

:)

Did it again in '96.

Won't do it again in '08.

while she went thru chemotherapy. :-(

And I was going through a period of complete apathy regarding politics, baseball, and yard work. Fortunately, my interest in all three has returned with full vigor.

It was a major discussion topic in my government class.

in a place that has socialized healthcare. It was awesome.

I was 8 yrs old

There were too may obstacles to get it passed; Whitewater took front and center (orchestrated by the Republicans) and our old friend William Kristol spearheaded the disinformation campaign against the plan. He claimed it would give too much power to the middle class and damage the Republican's quest for takeover of the government.

I will give Hillary credit for trying.

It was my senior year of highschool. I thought at the time it was a good idea but obviously would be difficult to do. I still think reforming the healthcare system would be a good idea and hopefully Obama or Hillary would try to change things. Romney or McCain would do absolutely nothing.