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Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton
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Current Office: U.S. Secretary of State
First Appointed: 01/21/2009
Party: Democratic
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BiographicalVoting RecordIssue Positions
(Political Courage Test)Interest Group RatingsPosition PapersSpeeches and Public StatementsAdditional Biographical InformationCampaign Finances
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Title: Associated Press - Clinton Raps Obama on Insurance
Date: 11/29/2007
Location: Ankeny, IA
News Article
Associated Press - Clinton Raps Obama on Insurance
By DAVID ESPO
ANKENY, Iowa (AP) Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton accused her leading Democratic presidential rival Wednesday of flinching from the struggle to provide health care for all Americans and said, "I am not afraid of the Republican attacks" on the subject.
"We've got to put up a candidate who's willing to stand up for it and fight for it," said the former first lady in her most pointed criticism to date of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.
Frequently accused of ducking key issues, Clinton said it was Obama who is seeking to finesse a difficult question. "He has called his plan universal, then he has called it `virtually universal,' but it simply does not deserve that label," she said. "When it comes to truth in labeling his plan simply flunks the test."
Obama, hoping to parry Clinton, told reporters in a conference call that she was making "more of a political point" than anything else. He said while her plan nominally requires coverage for all, "she hasn't told anybody how she would enforce this mandate."
He also said his plan focuses more than any other on "making health care affordable. And by doing so I will cover every American."
Clinton's decision to fly to Iowa from South Carolina in order to assail Obama reflected the intensifying campaign a little more than a month before Iowa's caucuses provide the first test of the year for the field of presidential rivals. The former first lady has been the presumptive front-runner here for months, but recent pre-caucus surveys show Obama and she are in a tight three-way race with former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.
Clinton said that by turning his back on universal health care, Obama was essentially siding with Republicans.
"If anything, Democrats should stand for universal health care. That distinguishes us from the Republicans. The Republicans don't believe in it. Democrats do and we should fight for it," she said.
As first lady nearly 15 years ago, Clinton spearheaded her husband's attempt to achieve universal health care. It failed in the Democratic-controlled Congress, and now, she says she is eager to try again.
She said Obama's plan would leave 15 million Americans uninsured, including 100,000 Iowans, about half the population of the capital city, Des Moines.
She also said Obama favors a mandate for coverage of children, a point she said made no sense. "If you believe you can enforce a mandate on children, that means you enforce the mandate on the parents of the children to enroll the children. So why would you leave out the parents?"
Clinton's plan requires all Americans to obtain health insurance. Those without it would be able to choose from among options that are currently available to members of Congress.
Obama says there actually are numerous similarities between his plan and hers.
http://ap.google.com/...
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