One of the reasons I voted for Obama in the primary is not because he is a ‘Black man,’ but perhaps as an African American, he conjures up a tremendous belief system, self-confidence that asserts that one can and should aspire to be the best he can be. To me, there is more to him that meets the eye.  What he stands for, is what is attracting millions across the country to go and vote. Change cannot come from the outside, but from within. You can be what you will to be, when you work hard towards your goal. No matter where you are from, or what ethnicity you are born into, if you believe you can, yes, you can.  And yes, as an American, things will change for the best when people work together to make it happen. His massage, I believe is the key factoring force here. It rings farther than the shore of United States of America. I think it resonates in places as Sao Paolo, and South America where descendants of Africans can see the glimpse of hope for themselves. It also resonates loudly in Africa- his father’s ancestral home- where many Africans can see that, they too can transcend their difficulties.

Obama’s candidacy speaks more than I can even express here. I was woken the morning I voted for him, by a force so strong - that it sent spasms down my spine. Obama, I believe will definitely shine through every negative smearing criticism thrown at him by the Clintons' bullying campaign.

This past week has seen the vindictive and hostile side of Hillary Clinton, and that is, she will stoop to dirt, if it guarantees her a win. Posting dirty and negative smearing campaign- will not make her any better candidate than Obama.

Hillary Clinton is using every chance to smear Obama, unfortunately her tactics may backfire. Trying to undermine Obama’s credibility when her credibility is wavering on many issues, will undermine her position as an experienced candidate for the presidential race.

Hillary Clinton criticized Obama’s campaign's health care mailing, as “disturbing and false”, when she uses the same tactics. His criticism of her universal plan is accurate, her plan for universal coverage is a spurious promise- and that is what Obama is telling the American public.  If her intention were authentic, she would have sized that opportunity in 1993 when her husband was in the office as the President.  She’s accusing Obama for lying to the American public, whereas, she is the one deceiving the Americans public by giving false hope with a universal health care plan.

In 1993, one of the several articles that was published regarding her universal health care plan, was of a young man by the name Dr. David Himmelstein, a supporter of a single-payer system, In that article, the Dr. Himmelstein gave an account of a meeting with Hillary Clinton that appeared in a September 1993 Washington Monthly article.

According to the article, “Himmelstein’s studies, published in The New England Journal of Medicine since 1986, showing that the U.S. could save as much as $67 billion in administrative costs alone by cutting out the 1,500 private insurers and going to a single government insurer in each state–easily enough to pay to cover every uninsured American.” He gave the report to the Clintons.  If indeed she is for a universal health care plan that covers every single uninsured American, why didn’t she size the opportunity to do something with the report given to her by Dr. Himmelstein. Instead, she told Dr. Himmelstein to “tell her something new.”

The answer is, her “universal” health care plan does not stand a chance, she knows that but she is still touting the plan, because she thinks she can use that with the American public. Obama is saying, listen Hillary Clinton, please do not do this to the American public, they deserve to know exactly where you stand.

Hillary Clinton knows that the single-payer idea didn’t stand a chance. Instead, the Clinton administration focused on a corporate-friendly “universal” health care plan. A plan that nevertheless raised the hopes of millions of uninsured workers- with the card that said, if you lose your job or you switch jobs, you’re covered. This is what Bill Clinton said before Congress in September 1993. “If you’re an early retiree, you’re covered. If someone in your family has, unfortunately, had an illness that qualifies as a pre-existing condition, you’re still covered. …And if an insurance company tries to drop you for any reason, you will still be covered, because that will be illegal.” Her husband, Bill Clinton promised that preventative care would be covered as well as substance abuse and mental health treatment. The plan, he said, would rival Social Security in its groundbreaking improvements in workers’ lives.

The thing is, running through the administration’s argument for health care reform was the concept of “shared responsibility” between employers and employees–that no one was getting a “free ride.” Clinton’s speeches on the subject stressed the importance of bipartisanship and compromise,” said the article. The fact is, by the time the Clinton’s administration’s proposed “Health Security Act” reached Congress on November 20, 1993, it was a watered-down proposal centered on private health maintenance organizations (HMOs)–based in part on input from the Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA).

During Bill Clinton’s term, the same HIAA, that was supposedly favoring his proposal, would later run its infamous “Harry and Louise” TV ads decrying the Clinton plan as “big government.” “This plan forces us to buy our insurance through new mandatory government health alliances,” complained Louise. “Run by tens of thousands of bureaucrats,” said Harry. “Having choices we don’t like is no choice at all,” replied Louise. They choose, we lose.”

Ultimately, insurance companies, large and small, decided that the series of concessions made by the Clintons in formulating their plan weren’t enough.  The “Task Force on National Health Care Reform” that placed her at the helm was never a success because big business lobbyist in Washington blocked it from being enacted.  The fact is that, Hillary Clinton’s health care task force put on a show of meeting with activists like Dr. Quentin Young of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) and others in early 1993, but the administration had no intention of considering proposals for a Canadian-style single-payer plan covering all Americans.

Hillary Clinton's universal heath care plan was no success. She even said it with her own words when she said, “We tried to do too much too fast,” Clinton told a 2006 conference of the Federation of American Hospitals. “I still have the scars to show for it.”  If the bill to provide universal health care benefit did not success then, what makes her think it would succeed when she is elected?  Her universal health care plan is a strategy used to woe the American public to think that she is more credible.

Hillary Clinton knows very well that she won’t fool around with socialist health care plans that cover every person–like the one Michael Moore proposes in his movie Sicko. So who is more credible? Obama is only telling the American people what is factual- do not be deceived because she will not deliver.  In fact if we look at the actual history of the Clinton administration’s health care reform proposal, you’ll see just how “realistic” Hillary Clinton was all along.  The Clinton administration’s health care debacle was a series of half-measures and compromises that fizzled away and died, despite widespread public excitement about the possibility of a health care plan that would cover everyone in the U.S.

It is really disheartening to see a woman so admired for her intelligence and understanding of her husband during Monica Lewinsky scandal- displaying the other side that is perhaps vindictive, condescending and supercilious. If Obama was not Obama, perchance, I would have voted for Hillary Clinton, but regrettably, people that intended on voting for her would not- due to her negative campaign. Winning does not mean she should crouch down to a dirty smearing campaign.

Robot  Villager

# 1 One of the reasons I voted for Obama in the primary is not because he is a ‘Black man,’...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 28.02.2008 00:42