Clearly the term "universal" is being overused, misused, and misunderstood. The only truly universal coverage would a plan in which everyone was covered, without even signing up. If signup is required, it is not universal, because some people would refuse to sign up, regardless of fines and penalties, and those people would not be covered. Also, all laws must be constitutional, and wouldn't a mandate violate citizens' right to privacy? The question is not only, which plan covers the most people and keeps the cost lowest, but which plan we have the political power to enact. Clinton has not given a clear exlanation of what has changed since she tried to force universal coverage on American in the early 90s. What are the reasons she failed then, and what has changed and how will she do things differently to ensure a different result? That is what we need to know! She seems bent on keeping it a semantic argument over mandates.
Obama's Creative Clippings
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However, the story merely reported that Obama said he would sign a universal health care plan. The article goes on to cast doubt on the universality of his own plan:
AP: Obama's first promise as a presidential candidate was that he would sign a universal health care plan into law by the end of his first term in the White House. But there is some dispute over whether his plan would provide universal care. It's aimed at lowering costs so all Americans can afford insurance, but does not guarantee everyone would buy it.
It's an important distinction we've raised a few times. Obama's plan wouldn't guarantee that every individual had health insurance, just that everyone would have the opportunity to obtain it. The AP story also includes a quote from a representative of Families USA, a liberal group that pushes for expanded government health coverage, who says, "It's not totally clear that it would result in universal coverage." The ad even shows video of Obama using more accurate language when he says he wants to make "health care affordable."
Cutting Out the Critique
The ad also shows a quote that says "Obama opposed Iraq war from the start." The AP analysis from Oct. 2, 2007, certainly did say that, but it also included some less-than-flattering words about Obama's stance on Iraq.
AP: Nobody can dispute that Barack Obama opposed the Iraq war from the start and, with striking prescience, predicted U.S. troops would be mired in a costly conflict that fanned "the flames of the Middle East." But nobody should accept at face value the Illinois senator's claim that he was a "courageous leader" who opposed the war at a great political risk. ... And once elected to the U.S. Senate two years later, Obama waited months to show national leadership on Iraq.
The article goes on to point out that Obama had been quite politically careful about how he approached the war.
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