Remembering Jim Cooper
Feb 19th, 2008 at 4:03 pm by Susie
Ezra begs to differ about Obama’s health care advisor:
Sorry, but Brad is precisely wrong on this. There were Congressmen in 1994 who came together to try and fashion a compromise after the Clinton health care bill seemed a clear failure. But Jim Cooper was not among their number. Rather, he was a uniquely pernicious actor who worked to undermine the plan both before, and directly after, its introduction. As we learn from this terrific timeline of the battle, in June of 1993, about three months before the Clinton plan came out, Cooper met with Clinton to “explore their differences over health care.” Those differences were “universal coverage.” the “employer mandate,” and Cooper’s fear that “the administration was being pushed to the left by liberals in the House.”
So let’s be clear on where Cooper starts: He was against universal coverage. He was a conservative Democrat who wanted a minimalist, incremental approach to health care that wouldn’t offend his corporate constituencies. He thought the Clinton plan was too liberal, even as it began as a compromise between liberal visions of single payer and conservative dreams of market competition. Then, on October 6, 1993, two weeks after the Clinton bill is released, Cooper reintroduces his own plan, creating, from the outset, a weak, moderate “alternative” for business, centrists, and other opponents of reform to rally around. “Privately,” we learn, “Cooper is convinced the White House will have to bend and accept his position.”
There’s more, and it’s worse than I thought. I’d love to contact the Obama campaign and ask them about this. Anyone have a contact number?
How about going to his website.
Man. No wonder the blogoshpere is looking dumber then the MSM.
And btw. I thought Hillary was the one that could stand up to the attacks.
Looks like she didn’t stand up with her health care plan.
Edwards was better than either Clinton or Obama on health care, and look where he is. It’s just not going to happen, yet.
There IS no number on the website, moron. You think I didn’t think of that?
[Susie, no name-calling or the censors will get you!]
Let’s hope the corporations (other than the insurers of course) are finally seeing the costs of not having universal health insurance and will be on board. And that Mr. Cooper has had a change of heart in the past 15 years.
Senator Obama has me doing a lot of hoping these days.
What will Obama’s fans do if he wins, and doesn’t help them?
If things just continue to get worse? Because thats the indication as far as I can see.
The numbers just don’t work. Adverse selection will kill any plan that doesn’t mandate buy in. And millions of Americans will go without access to health care for at least another four to eight years, as things continue to get worse.
No President can ask insurance companies to lose money. They aren’t social service agencies.
Thats the problem with Obama’s plan, and its a BIG one. The mandate is the only way to get rates down, without ditching insurance companies entirely. And that would require creating a huge new entitlement program which even though 70% (!) of Americans want it, wont happen because the ones who want it - have less and less political power every year - as jobs dissapear.
(and Obama isn’t proposing any REAL solutions to THAT, either)
Denial wot solve these problems. Hope wont. And that is what Obama represents to many people. To his backers, he represents - the status quo.