ABC's The Note reports today on Senator Chris Dodd going after Hillary as well--and on health care

[flpoljunkie]

Meanwhile, in the second tier, it's Dodd who's starting to look like the aggressor, as he abandons all subtlety in an attempt to break through. He's calling Obama "irresponsible" for the way he talks about foreign policy, per the New York Sun's Seth Gitell. Dodd is harsher on Clinton, saying this about her oft-stated contention that she "bears the scars" associated with her failed healthcare initiative: "Political scars are one thing. But the scars from mismanaging an issue that people have had to pay because they haven't had any health insurance or coverage for the past 15 years is a lot more serious in many ways."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TheNote/Story?id=3105288&page=3

[aquart]

1. Good. Bring the health care argument front and center.

[Captain Hilts]

2. Good. I like Dodd and this is a debate the country needs to have. nt

[Ethelk2044]

3. Since she has been in the Senate for 6 years, she should have been able to put together a bill

to have healthcare for all. However, as we know it is better to have lobbyist giving money than to have healthcare for all.

[illinoisprogressive]

5. she always says she is working on a policy but, never comes out with one

[Colobo]

4. Dodd is desperate, but hopefully

something positive will come out of his attacks.

[bigdarryl]

6. Talking about experience he's got it more than Hillary Obama and Edwards put together PERIOD!!!

[SaveElmer]

7. It was Congress t hat mismanaged it...

And who turned out to have no backbone on the issue...Dodd may want to look in the mirror...

[karynnj]

8. Dodd has always been an ally of Kennedy on health

Hillary's plan was NEVER submitted to Congress, so it is kind of hard to blame them. (The entire Finance committee disliked the design of it.) From Hillary's own book, it seems she did not work with Congress to find a bill they would pass. Dodd clearly can not be blamed for "mismanaging" a bill that he never got a chance to vote on.

You can blame the insurance lobby. You can blame Hillary and Ira Magaziner for designing it in secret - not even saying who they were speaking to - until pushed to do so. You can blame Bill Clinton for not pushing for it. But, blaming a genuine liberal Democrat is unfair.

[Inuca]

10. I hardly remember any details

I was not following things that closely back then. But if what you say is true, it is a very bad sign for a possible HRC presidency. Unwillingness to cooperate, secrecy, all this rings painfully familiar.

[Inuca]

9. Dodd does not equal Congress n/t

[flpoljunkie]

11. Bernstein: Donna Shalala, handpicked by HRC, was certain that Hillary was ill-prepared for the job

Mostly people thought the idea – the whole system Hillary was setting up – was crazy,” said Shalala.

The foremost concern was that Hillary’s ideas for solving the healthcare problem were too ambitious. Hillary discounted and, according to Shalala, even resented the advice of the naysayers. To accept their judgment would have meant to controvert her most basic notion about herself: that given the responsibility and the power, she could solve virtually any problem she applied herself to by dint of sheer force of will, intellect, study and hard work.

<>The most vocal internal opponent of putting Hillary in charge of healthcare was Shalala, who knew Hillary far better than most new members of the president’s team, and so felt freer about speaking out.

Shalala, 4ft 11in tall, of Lebanese descent, an ardent feminist with both academic experience and sharp political skills, had known Hillary almost 20 years. And though she and the new first lady were friends, Shalala was certain that Hillary was ill-prepared for the job.

<>“They assume that being smart is enough,” Shalala said. “And it’s not enough. It’s judgment. It’s experience. It’s being strategic at the right points.” Shalala believed that Hillary often tried to do too many things at once – and later, as her personal and legal troubles accumulated, became distracted.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_extracts/article1874664.ece

[Inuca]

13. Very interesting, thanks!

[barack4prez]

12. Would the plan that Hillary

proposed in 1993 sell today? I wonder.

[karynnj]

14. I would tend to doubt it

I have heard various Democrats praise it intent, but I have rarely heard them praise it's design. One hint is that Hillary has not simply pointed to it as her plan - saying that she was right then and now people agree.