With Clinton's health care plan released, and only a shade different than Edwards, the argument on health care moves over to who can git 'er done. Which is, theoretically, Clinton's stronger ground. But Edwards and Obama are hoping that memories of 1993 to will undermine that claim to competency.
Obama released a press statement that ended, "I was able to pass health care reform in Illinois that covered an additional 150,000 children and their parents, and that's how we'll prevent the drug and insurance industry from defeating our reform efforts like they did in 1994." Edwards gave a speech telling Clinton -- who he called "the architect of the 1993 reforms" -- that "the cost of failure 14 years ago isn't anybody's scars or political fortune, it's the millions of Americans who have now gone without health care for more than 14 years and the millions more still crushed by the costs." But according to a new poll, the voters may not be receptive to this line of attack:
“Registered voters see Clinton's experience with a failed health care proposal as an asset rather than a liability. Sixty-six percent of all voters, and 77 percent on Democratic primary voters, say her past experience will help her to reform health care if she becomes president. … Just 25 percent of all voters, and 15 percent of Democratic primary voters, say that experience will hurt her. Fifty-two percent of registered voters say the lack of health care reform in the 1990s was beyond Clinton's control. Only 5 percent say she was ‘mostly responsible' for the lack of reform, while 39 percent say they do not know enough to have an opinion. In a CBS poll in 1994, 43 percent said Clinton's involvement was one reason health care reform did not pass, while 49 percent disagreed.”
As one smart observer e-mailed, "There's not enough difference on the substance among the Dems to matter, which is deliberate. I thought HRC did a good job on avoiding the 94 landmines. Now this is no longer an argument over who has the best plan, but rather who is the one who could get it done." If you buy that the Democratic primary is a tug-of-war between whether "change" -- benefitting Obama/Edwards -- or "experience" -- benefitting Hillary -- will triumph, Hillary's plan, which offers more change than Obama's and is barely distinguishable from Edwards, does quite a bit to ensure the conversation remains focused on practical experience. Edwards may be able to get some traction by detailing the lavish amounts of money Clinton has taken from the medical industry -- including insurance companies -- but that's about all her opponents have left, and it's not an attack that's gained much purchase in the last month or two.
