Wednesday, February 06, 2008

What Hillary Didn't Learn From Her Health Care Debacle

In case you missed this column in all the Super Tuesday hoopla, don't miss this column of David Brooks.

I remember Rep. Jim Cooper from my days in the 89-91 working on the Hill. He is a smart, nice man.

I'd forgotten about this, but as soon as I started to read it all came flooding back.

I had heard of it and read of it at the time. And these kind of tactics and approach are exactly how she alienated Sens. Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Bill Bradley. Moynihan pointedly reminded Hillary Clinton that she couldn’t INTRODUCE legislation, because she was acting as if she didn’t need them.

It’s exactly that kind of behavior that makes me a. loath her and b. believe she can’t bring about the change she’s promising. It doesn’t seem to me that she’s learned the right lessons from her mistakes then. She has asserted that it was a communication problem - that they were too secretive (which they were) rather that a problem with her framework and how she approached the issue. Basically, Hillary co-opted the job of Congress, doing their work for them and the reform was so complicate they couldn't explain it in words to rally up public support.

Not that words matter!

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