Analyzing the Obama Health Care mailings

In Cincinnati over the weekend, Hillary went sharply on the offensive by criticizing the Obama campaign for mailing out fliers that was highly critical of Hillary's universal health care plan. Before we get into the substance of the attack by Obama's camp, it's worth noting that Hillary's sincerity here should be questioned. These fliers are not new to the scene. During the debate in Texas, Hillary fawned over Obama and commented on how proud she was to be sharing the stage with Obama. By then, the "Karl Rove-like" mailings had been widely circulated by the Obama campaign. Earlier this month, on Feb. 2nd, Hillary was asked about Obama's mailings on ABC's "This Week." There was no shame put on the shoulders of Barack Obama and she certainly compare them to *gasp* Karl Rove. So this feigned indignation on Hillary's part may have more to do with her disappearing leads in both Texas and Ohio and little to do with the substance of Obama's attack on Hillary's health care plan.

But I digress.

Hillary has long been unwilling to compromise on universal health care coverage. In 1993, her health care proposal died in Congress in large part due to her unwillingness to compromise. David Brooks of the NY Times had an interesting piece on that 1993 health care debacle. The gist of it is Congressman Jim Cooper (D-TN) proposed an alternative health care plan to Hillary's not did not call for universal mandates. Cooper's plan had a much more realistic chance of passing through Congress but Hillary and The Clinton White House made sure it was dead on arrival. Without addressing the skyrocketing cost of health care in this country, Hillary wants (yet again) to mandate that all Americans must be covered--without much regard to their willingness or ability to pay for it. This is the substance of Obama's attack and it is essentially true.

Aside from the fact that Hillary has not developed any viable enforcement mechanism to ensure that everyone buys into her health care system, it's inevitable that everyone will not be able to pay for it. On ABC's "This Week," Hillary admitted that garnishing the wages of hard-working Americans is a definite possibility.

In that network interview, Hillary implicitly admitting that the substance of Obama's attack on her health care plan is exactly correct. People will be forced to join her massive health care bureaucracy, even if they cannot afford it or don't want it.

Hillary is making the same mistake she made as First Lady in the 1993-94 health care debate. For her, everything hinges on universal health care. Why that nebulous goal is her primary concern is difficult to ascertain. If her 35 years of experience was a learning experience, she'd drop this universal coverage mandate immediately.

Is it really progress when the federal government forces every single person to pay for health insurance? Perhaps individuals should make their own choices on health care, free of any government interference and massive bureaucracy.