What She Learned . . . [View All]

[William769]

The genius of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign has been her skill at turning liabilities into assets and weaknesses into strengths. By putting out a detailed health-care plan yesterday, Clinton embarked on this year's most daring act of political jujitsu.

Compared with Barack Obama and John Edwards, who have already issued well-reviewed proposals of their own, Clinton comes late to the health-care sweepstakes. But there is a message in that, too. Her approach, she says, has been "very deliberate." That's why she offered ideas on curbing health costs and improving the quality of care before she got around to her plan to cover everyone.

She mixes self-deprecating laughter with meticulous analysis of interest-group politics to send one clear message: The Hillary Clinton of 2007 is a wiser, shrewder and more realistic politician than the first lady who tried and failed to pass her husband's health plan in 1993 and 1994 -- which, because of her high-profile role, is now inevitably called "Hillarycare."

In a telephone interview yesterday shortly before she gave her Iowa speech, Clinton listed the tips she picked up at the Health Care School of Hard Knocks.

"I learned in 1993 that people who have coverage need reassurance that they can keep their current plan," she said, noting that her new proposal offers exactly that. In her address, she repeatedly invoked the words "You choose" -- with the emphasis on you-- as a litany that could drive away the evil spirits of the past.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/17/AR2007091701395.html