Debating Health Care

I have to say, I think Brad DeLong's being kind of unfair to Karen Tumulty. The people who cover political campaigns for a living haven't done a ton to earn the benefit of the doubt, but the fact remains that the SEIU/CAP health care event was boring. Nothing happened, no news was broken, and we learned basically nothing about the candidates. I would be interested in hearing about Barack Obama's health care plan except he . . . doesn't have one. I see no particular reason to hear about the fact that he doesn't have one. Everyone thinks he'll produce one soon enough, and it would be good to hear about it when it happens.

Dennis Kucinich's health care proposal actually deserves some serious coverage, but placing in the context of a presidential campaign in which he's not a serious factor just ensures that this won't happen. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton and Bill Richardson who are somewhere between Edwards and Obama on the spectrum of releasing detailed plans managed to clarify nothing. Edwards' plan remains Edwards' plan and listening to him speak about it in this format is less enlightening than just reading about it in detail. All in all it was dull. Less because it was, in The Politico's headline to a pretty good summary, "More Than You Wanted to Know About Health Care" than that it was considerably less than someone genuinely curious about this would want to know, while also being much more than those who don't really care about the issue will want to know.

Comments

I thought Jim from Portland OR made a good point over at Ezra's in this thread. The Dem candidates' views on health care are far more similar than they are different, and trying to comb through the minutiae of details distinguishing them is both boring and counterproductive.

Posted by br | March 25, 2007 8:00 PM

I believe the differences between the Dem candidates lie in their willingness to hold health care issues as a priority once elected, not the nuances of their individual plans. Compromise with Repubs and conservative Dems in Congress will hammer most proposed plans into a similar shape— what truly matters is the individual candidates willingness to do what it takes to get every person in America ready access to good, preventative-minded health care.

Posted by Gregorio | March 25, 2007 8:05 PM

read: Universal Health Care now.

Posted by Gregorio | March 25, 2007 8:07 PM

Yeah, maybe it's unfair to go for the jugular on this, but beating up on an easy target works. It's called gaming the ref. Do it enough and they start to pay attention.

Posted by chris | March 25, 2007 8:25 PM

Bizarrely, Obama's the only one who said anything of substance. It's a bromide, but it is actually true that if health care's your top issue, the most important thing isn't who has a good plan (that plan won't survive contact with Congress) but who has the ability to forge consensus.

Posted by guy | March 25, 2007 8:31 PM

That said, having a concrete plan at this point would demonstrate some interest in and commitment to the health care issue. Iraq is rightfully overshadowing it right now, but for me, it's right up there after Iraq with climate change and the deficit.

Oh, and I forgot abortion and gun control and immigration because those issues are SO important. Sorry Tommy Thompson, you wonky fuck! Give Lou Dobbs a kiss on the mouth for me...

Posted by Gregorio | March 25, 2007 8:39 PM

"Bizarrely, Obama's the only one who said anything of substance." That's funny.

I dunno, I think it's interesting that a serious contender for president is running as a progressive who favors social programs over deficit reduction. And I think it's interesting that he's honest about the need to make a choice. And I think it's interesting that he's going to force the other two to make a choice, and that one of them is trying to straddle the line between neoliberalism and liberalism, and that the other one is casting her lot with the neolibs. And I think it's pretty interesting that you could pretty much see that whole primary playing out before your eyes on stage. And I think it's really interesting that Marc Cooper caught all this while Yglesias struck the blase blogger pose.

Posted by david mizner | March 25, 2007 10:20 PM

DeLong is right. Politics has its substantive side and its fluff side. The fluff side can be fun and distracting, and people who want to divert people's attention from the substance love fluff politics. People who realize that the substantive side of politic is most important shouldn't collaborate with those who want to divert attention to the fluff. No one should ignore the part that personalities, fake scandals, meaningless wedge issues, etc. play in politics, but no one should collaborate with the "b-o-o-o-ring" meme. All the significant things that government does are "b-o-o-o-ring".

Ten demerits, 50 Hail Maries, and 100 pushups, Matt.

Posted by John Emerson | March 25, 2007 10:48 PM

I think people overlook the fact that John Edwards had time to do a proposal on issues over the past two years. the others have day jobs that require alot of time and addressing issues of the moment.
I would rather have a good proposal rather than one put together fast to cater to the impatient.
I want something that is well thought out and has good ideas. I'd rather wait for that then, something bad. and I realize that they have jobs while Edwards had the time.
If you are interested in the kind of proposal Sen. Obama would do I'd suggest looking up the one he did here in Illinois to cover those under 18 without insurance. And under republican control. It's well done and it actually works.

Posted by vwcat | March 25, 2007 11:35 PM

To run for President and not have a clear idea about healthcare shows that you lack perspective or are unserious. Healthcare is the #1 area where the federal government impacts peoples lives. It's one of the largest parts of our economy. It's the one area we clearly are not globally competitive. To suggest that it's ok not to have a healthcare plan because everyone knows you'll eventually get around to it is not refflective of the importance of the issue.

Posted by elliottg | March 26, 2007 11:41 AM

Neil Cavuto told me that Hillary Clinton's health care plan will involve mandatory abortions for all women under 25.

Posted by Gregorio | March 26, 2007 1:56 PM