Proof Obama is opposed to real health care reform

[OzarkDem]

"But there are still certain things that make me really, really nervous about Obama. At the top of that list is the health care debate, where I think he's just wrong about the importance of universality, and where he's employed Harry and Louise-style tactics to argue against Clinton's plan. My concerns shifted into overdrive, though, when I noticed that the Obama campaign is now using Rep. Jim Cooper as a spokesperson/surrogate on health care.

I was part of the Clinton White House team on the health care reform issue in 1993/94, and no Democrat did more to destroy our chances in that fight than Jim Cooper. We had laid down a marker very early that we thought universal coverage was the most essential element to getting a good package, saying we were to happy to negotiate over the details but that universality was our bottom line.

Cooper, a leader of conservative Dems on the health care issue, instead of working with us, came out early and said universality was unimportant, and came out with a bill that did almost nothing in terms of covering the uninsured. He quickly became the leading spokesman on the Dem side for the insurance industry position, and undercut us at every possible opportunity, basically ending any hopes we had for a unified Democratic Party position. I was never so delighted to see a Democrat lose as when he went down in the 1994 GOP tide. "

http://openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4004

[babylonsister]

1. Yawn-posted already. The rebuttal is better:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4659677

[OzarkDem]

3. Nothing in that rebuttal

but some GOP trash talking about Clinton's first try at health care reform.

Certainly nothing that in any way exonerates Mr. Cooper.

Obama's own words are his worst enemy on this issue. Time and again, he has used the talking points of the private health insurance lobbyists to criticize Clinton's plan and even sabotage his own.

So much of his health care reform talk comes right from the "Harry & Louise" ads. So now we know its not an accident, its deliberate and we know who's writing those speeches for him.

[babylonsister]

4. The old 'kill the messenger' meme. And it IS getting old. nt

[OzarkDem]

5. Obama has a poor health care reform plan

he seeks to sideline the issue by using GOP talking points about Clinton's plan, even going so far as to hire the guy who undermined the last effort at reform.

Pretty cut and dried.

[Teaser]

2. Yes, and also he once stole my mom's aspirin.

.

[John Q. Citizen]

6. The problem is both the Clinton plan and the Obama plan suck. So the question

then is who will we better be able to push to a single payer fee for service plan? You know, a plan where we self insure as a country and cut out the middle men, the insurance industry.

From what I've seen of Clinton over the years, she has no use and no respect for the grass roots. She's a power player who only deals from the top down. Since the Insurance industry is at the top of the feeding chain, that's who she works with.

Obama, on the other had, has shown that he's quite comfortable with the grass roots. He worked with the grass roots organizing on the South Side, in Chicago. His campaign is strongly grass roots. I have togo with Obama, if only because I believe we will eventually be able to move his plan to be a lot better, and to use grass roots energy/action to actually get it passed.

[OzarkDem]

10. Not true

Clinton's plan is better because it provides universal coverage and is thus sustainable. This has been discussed many times and not been successfully refuted.

[karynnj]

7. Senator Kennedy who has done more than anyone on healthcare vouches for him on this

[Voice for Peace]

8. I prefer to have a choice as to whether to have health insurance.

[indigoblue]

9. Choosing not to participate in is

refusing to share the responsibility. Do you hate social security, too?

[OzarkDem]

11. It also puts the cost of paying for uninsured's care

on those who do buy insurance. Sorry, no free riders for me.

[Voice for Peace]

14. No, I don't expect anybody else to pay for me. And honestly I don't mind if

my taxes help pay for others to have health care, if they need it.

But I don't like the way people use health insurance to abdicate responsibility
for taking care of their own health. I've seen a great deal of this: people run
to doctors and the pharmaceutical counter without stopping to figure out
why they're getting sick all the time. I'm not in favor of that, I think it
ends up hurting everybody. I believe the majority of health ills are caused
by crappy diet, pollution, and lifestyle. Many of the cures are worse than
the disease. And most hospitals are dangerous places, unless you have
a life threatening emergency.

I don't like the whole health care industry, period.
I do have strong personal feelings on this whole issue, and they're not even
worth a debate, because they're my own; I'm not trying to convince anybody
else to feel the same way. I just don't like the idea of health insurance
being mandatory, on principle.

I don't like car insurance either. In fact, I don't like insurance in general.
It's a huge scam overall. Scuse my rant.... (I am restraining myself).

[Voice for Peace]

15. and one last point...

it seems to me that the main resounding message of the medical
industries is this: avoid death at all costs. As if that were an option
for mortals.

[ProSense]

12. Proof that Hillary is working with lobbyists on

health care.

[babylonsister]

13. Keep those facts handy, ProSense. Maybe someone will 'get it'. nt

[eridani]

16. Both candidates are pro-corporation here. This is a surprise? n/t

[depakid]

17. Both are opposed to actual reform

as is a substantial segment of the Democratic party.

So long as the corportists hold sway, nothing rational will ever be passed on the health care front.

[PurityOfEssence]

18. For a minute there, I thought you had Michelle's pay stubs...

There's big money in big medicine.