HazelGod
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getting back to the issues, proposed healthcare policies seems to be the greatest delineation among the candidates
not a particularly strong issue for me, but wondered how the rest of you thought about it
I've talked about this before, but I don't think many people really understand so it bears repeating.
The President of the USA does not have the power to rule by fiat. I know that seven years of a GWB administration have confused a lot of people on the veracity of that statement, but it remains essentially true.
Presidents don't get to walk into the Oval Office, sit down, and declare, "OK, now I'm the boss and this is how it's gonna be!" They don't have any hammer like Hephaestus to birth their plans, fully formed, upon the nation.
Hillary has a health-care plan that she wants to force onto everyone so that everyone will be covered. It's DOA. It will never pass the Congress in that incarnation, because it's unpalatable to too many people. She feels her idea is the only way, and will cajole her circle of power elites to use their influence to try to force the issue. So, in essence, Hillary has no health-care plan.
Barack Obama also has a plan for health-care that is similar in many points. The differences, however, are greatly reflective of his leadership and experience in working with the people. Rather than force a mandate down the throats of everyone, he has not only anticipated the people who won't want to participate in his plan, he has respected this sentiment. I'm not suggesting that his plan will sail through the Congress unmolested, but coming as it does from a mindset of inclusion and understanding, it has much better odds of its core principles being carried into law.
This is why I feel it's ultimately foolish to vote for a candidate based solely on their specific policy issues. Think back...how many particular pet issues have presidents been successful in enacting as they campaigned on them? You can probably count them on one hand, and that's only if you're fairly long in the tooth.
No, I place a greater weight on those somewhat ephemeral leadership qualities demonstrated by the candidates...because we're electing a leader, not a monarch. We're holding up the person whom we believe will direct the operations of our nations with a set of guiding principles that best matches our own.
Maybe its an indictment of our society that we've had exactly that in our current administration...a greedy, self-interested liar with all the statecraft of a five-year old in a sandbox. Personally, I don't see Hillary as being any different...time and again, she's been caught in chicanery and outright lies. Her approach to foreign negotiations has been made clear multiple times...she takes the same imperialist attitude sitting in the White House right now, that our President is above other world leaders and won't deign to grant them an audience until they've sufficiently prostrated themselves. Her approach to domestic policy isn't much different...she knows what is best, and everyone else needs to just get on board her wagon or get run over. The cast of characters might change, but the show would remain the same.
Barack Obama represents a vision of political processes that break with this tradition...a more inclusive government that doesn't operate in oligarchical self-interests. His experience as an organizer are reflected in his policy statements, all crafted around the best interests of the USA as a whole. He speaks of building a working majority, including people from all sides of politics, to make these changes effective. He doesn't promise to lift the burdens of our citizens singlehandedly or in a fell swoop...but he does offer to lead us along a path where we can do this together.
I don't agree with all of his policy positions, and I'm not particularly shot in the ass with what some of his plans will mean for me...but I believe he has his heart in the right place, in working for the interests of the people of this nation. And I believe that his more inclusive approach to statesmanship and policy making is long overdue.