XPosted in GD-P: On Health Care: It's not about a legislative agenda, it's about a clear vision...
On Health Care: It's not about a legislative agenda, it's about a clear vision forward
Hillary Clinton fundamentally misreads how a debate over American Health Care now plays out with the public. It's the Republicans who call for repeal and replace (in that order) of Obamacare, not Bernie Sanders. Yes, Sanders extols the virtues of a rational health care system for America, one that would truly cover all of us while rolling back and containing the costs that are bleeding so many of us dry. He makes the case for Medicare for All because he actually believes in it and knows that when we eventually implement such a system our nation will be the better for it. That in a word is called leadership.
But Bernie Sanders never talks about rolling back any of the hard fought health care gains that we have already won. Neither has he ever claimed that in his first, second, or even fourth year in office that his administration would sign legislation into law that will replace the Affordable Care Act with Medicare for All. Bernie simply refuses to take his eye off the eventual goal, because it is a highly worthwhile one, whether it comes to fruition in 2017, 2019, 2025 or later. Bernie Sanders is behaving like a true Democrat in that regard.
But not just that, Sanders is exhibiting the type of political courage in defense of most Americans that has so set him apart in this election year from what we have all long come to expect from our mainstream political class. He will not shy away from what he knows is right simply because it temporarily is not politically viable. Hillary Clinton believes that points to a weakness in Bernie Sanders because he likely will be unable to soon deliver on this core economic premise of his platform for America when he is inaugurated as our president. Bernie Sanders has never said that he could. That is not a weakness.
Bernie Sanders combines clear eyed realism with an uplifting vision for America, he is that political rarity - the pragmatic visionary. Martin Luther King Jr. once so famously said "I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you...". That wasn't an admission of defeat, it was clear headed idealism, what America at its best has always been about. If you can not articulate a goal you are unlikely to ever achieve it. The party of FDR was never timid about fighting for transformative social change. Is that still our Democratic Party?
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