On September 17th Hillary Clinton stepped up and embarrassed everyone aspiring to be candidates for Presidential Election 2008. She didn't do enough to win my vote nor should have gained yours either.
The only exclusions would be Rudy Guiliani who beat Hillary to the punch by embarrassing himself and Fred Thompson. Old Fred hasn't done enough to get embarrassed by being a late entry in the game. I would imagine that was an important factor in his campaign strategy plan.
Who Stole The Bacon?
My most fun read was Romney and Edwards saying, "but I said that." Come on boys it's time to face reality. As Obama did by saying, "I said that but changed my stance." And of course if you can't say anything nice, you find a way to be politely derogatory.
Nice try, but Hillary Care should be taken as a compliment. Also her plan illustrates what we should all have known already. Any process of reform will have to be a collaborative effort. So in short you guys are left twiddling your thumbs. This is not a case of who is the most original. This is all about fixing a very broken piece of the American way.
Why?
Of all the incomplete proposals put forth Ms. Clinton's shows the most in depth. It's main fault is as I expected points of vague political speak. Still, it contains less than others. Be it so, it does begin to nudge closer to the bulls eye than others.
The Glaring Omission
Mental healthcare is the weakest of all weak points. No healthcare reform can move forward without fully addressing mental healthcare in specific terms. Without an elaborate redefining of the mental health care, treatment and coverage can any overall healthcare reform achieve success. It can't be glossed over in five words ala John Edwards or left out. It has to be directly be elevated to on par with overall healthcare or we will plunge two steps back for every half step forward.
Other Raw Points
The following is more of a result of not using your commonsense in an effort to dazzle. At first look the plan is not sequential with it's ideals. You can't mandate people to buy health insurance until you define a few things. One, what is affordable? Two, how can it be made affordable? You can't mandate people buy something they can't pay for. (Yes, we have health insurance but live on the street.)
The second look needs to take in the small business owner and their employees. How can a business that barely supports itself survive, if it can't afford to employ the people to do the work because of health insurance rates. And the most puzzling of all considerations is how to lower the costs of medical treatment, supplies and medication.
Now A Word About Our Sponsor
Hillary Clinton, she has a leg up. Not in the same sense Bubba might mean that. I see a glimmer of the Hillary of old peeking through. Personally, I take offense when people call the Clinton initiative of 1993 a failure. There is a difference between failing and being undermined. We as a nation should be ashamed because we stood by and let those events take place. Whether or not we agreed with the initiative's course of action is not the point. We let the very people who survive by milking and escalating the healthcare problem win.
We did this when we watched it happen and did not rise to express objection, or take a stand against these people. It was no different than what we let happen to the Ted Kennedy healthcare initiative. I am still not a Hillary fan... yet. This proposal not only needs more depth, it needs more specifics in how to. Of course, it needs a total infusion in the terms of reforming mental healthcare. In short it needs a hell of a lot of work. I find it a good place to start.
I'm Not Denouncing or Endorsing The Plan
It is a better beginning in some ways except in terms of mental healthcare. It has more promise than any of the others at this time. All the campaigner's proposals have a common ground. They need better research and more detail in all aspects of defining healthcare reform. None have reached the level or acceptability that should command a consideration for handing over your vote. The Clinton effort should set the bar not only for all the other candidates but for the Clinton campaign itself. It is certainly not the limp wrist effort of Rudy's comb over of the Bush plan.
To Hillary Clinton
I said this before. Your proposal exposed the glimmer of that Joan of Arc I used to see in you. Don't stop. Get people working on fortifying your plan. You have stepped in front of the pack. (Still, you don't have my vote.) When it comes to healthcare it cannot be a win or lose proposition. And oh yes by the way, call me let's do healthcare.
Rich Naran is the publisher of Rich Naran's Depression Awareness.
