To understand this debate, we need to understand the issues that were explored in 1993, which have not changed. In many ways, Obama's plan resembles very strongly the plan that was put forward by Obama's campaign's healthcare pointman, Jim Cooper - when he was a Democratic Congressman in 1993.

Lets travel back to 1993, when Bill Clinton was trying to get universal health care passed.

As a Congressman from Tennessee, Cooper played the part of a unique detrimental actor who worked aggressively to undermine the Clintons universal health care plan both before it was actually introduced, and after its introduction.

Doesn't that tell us something about Obama's intentions?

It pays to learn the chronology of the battle.

In June 1993, approximately three months by the plan Clinton ended up, Cooper met up with Clinton to examine "their differences concerning health care"

Those differences were over "universal coverage." the "employer mandate," and Cooper's apprehension that 'forces of the left' were determining Clinton's path - and that Clinton was not listening enough to businesses that wanted to shift more of their costs onto the consumer.

In other words, the concerns of the large corporate employers and the health insurance industry in particular.

Cooper was clearly against universal coverage. He was a very conservative Democrat who wanted to please a very corporate agenda.

He thought that the Clinton plan was, as a compromise between the liberal's vision of a single payer and conservative dream of the market competition only, was dangerously close to a path to universal coverage.

Then, on 6 Oktober 1993, two weeks after the Clinton plan was released, Jim Cooper again introduced his own plan, which was basically designed to destroy the Clinton plan by being a weak, 'alternative' to the Clinton plan that business could rally around.

It can honestly be said that Jim Cooper, more than anyone else, was singlehandedly responsible for destroying our chances to have universal health care in 1993.

The media latched on to Cooper's plan and so did the right, and many people are convinced now that the white house was forced to bend its position because of it.

Cooper's gambit effectively killed universal healthcare and led to the situation we are in now, after a decade and a half of multibillion dollar profits for the health insurance industry, and thousands  of bankrptcies for American families as health care costs, OFTEN FOR THOSE WHO
ARE TECHNICALLY 'INSURED' -  ballooned to become the largest
cause of financial ruin for Americans. With Washington AND THE DEMOCRATS TACIT APPROVAL. That policy shift also represented a betrayal of working Americans by the party that represented itself as trying to protect them.

This situation is not an ambiguous one. Jim Cooper was from the beginning, an enemy of reform.

In retrospect, its clear that he was NOT a constructive participant who strives for compromise.

A reformer would examine the assembled needs and interests and try to forge an agreement.

No, instead he did everything he could with his plan to undermine Clinton, and his plan was a straw man that played an important role in destroying its chances by giving industry
a way to influence the democratic legislative strategy by peeling off a number of key supporters who faced pressure from the corporate world.

Why is this SO relevant? Because now, Obama is using Cooper's plan as the blueprint for his own healthcare plan and he has brought Cooper into his team as his point man on health care.

For those of us who want real change in the healthcare arena, this is a terrifying omen. And it speaks badly for Obama's honestly because he is portraying himself as a reformer.

Obama is not a reformer, he is a divider and he has embraced a betrayer. It is said that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

But we do not need to go down that road, the Democratic party still has a chance to avoid becoming part of the problem, rather than part of the solution.

Please consider this issue carefully when you cast your vote.

Update [2008-3-27 9:27:52 by architek]:

Just found some links to add:

Health Debate Is Filling Campaign Coffers

By RICHARD L. BERKE, Published: April 19, 1994

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B00EEDD1431F93AA25757C0A962958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

Quote: (talking about Jim Cooper)

"In less than a year, the mild-mannered Democrat from the most rural House district in Tennessee has become the toast of health care providers and insurance companies, which have channeled tens of thousands of dollars of contributions to his campaign for a Senate seat."

Sound familiar? Healthcare is BIG money! Why do you think Obama is getting so much big money? Hint: Its not just his good looks!

Poll Does this deception by the Obama camp on healthcare worry you? Yes - I want some answers, now. No - I don't care. Votes: 11 Results : Vote Link : Polls