Clinton and Chelsea-Clinton
January 22nd, 2007
To no one’s surprise Hillary Clinton officially entered the race for the Democratic nomination for president Saturday. Clinton’s announcement was made on her Web site, but for her first appearance as official-candidate Clinton (as opposed to Democratic-frontrunner-all-but-declared-candidate Clinton), she chose the Ryan Chelsea-Clinton Community Health Center. This was, the Washington Post helpfully noted, “named for the Chelsea and Clinton neighborhoods whose needs it serves, and echoing the name of Clinton’s daughter.”
In her presentation, the Post reports, “Clinton focused on the specific theme of health care for children, locking hands with a little girl who joined her onstage. In so doing, she signaled that she will use her uniqueness as a woman — and more specifically as a mother — to stake out her ground in the crowded presidential.” To say nothing of the fact that, Gothamist notes, “There is nothing like a photo op with lots of cute kids.”
As to whether she said much of substance, unclear. Reviewing the Times article on her appearance, Norwegianity accuses the paper of giving her “short shrift,” and urges readers to “notice how long it takes to get from the headline and opening sentence to any content” that reflects the what she had to say about health care. (Eight paragraphs, for whoever is counting.)
In addition to using New York as a backdrop for her campaign, Clinton may use the tactics that have served her so well in campaigns here. Writing that Clinton’s Web site announcement urges Americans to engage in “a dialog about your ideas and mine,” Daily News reports that a poll shows Clinton leading the Democratic primary field among voters in the city with 43 percent preferring her, compared to 24 percent for Barack Obama.
But the Sun isn’t letting such numbers dim its enthusiasm for a presidential bid by Mayor Michael Bloomberg who says he is not running. “The mayor has to realize,” the paper says, “that Mrs. Clinton’s negatives aren’t just the concerns about whether she can win a general election, but the feeling that she doesn’t stand for anything other than her own ambition…. What a contrast with the self-effacing mayor, who can console himself that at least Mrs. Clinton will have to spend the next year hitting up people for money.”
Bloomberg certainly is rich. But self-effacing? Maybe the Sun did not hear the mayor’s
State of the City address last week.
(For more on New York in the presidential race, see Hillary, Rudy, And George, But Not Mike ( Or So He Says).
By Gail Robinson on January 22, 2007, 12:13 pmIn category: Gotham City | 1 Comment »


January 22nd, 2007 at 12:49 pm
The candidate says she wants to reduce the number of uninsured by expanding Medicaid, which has been her strategy since the failure of her universal health care plan in the early 1990s. NOOOOOOOO!
This would kill New York. Why? Because the feds only cover half of most Medicaid expenditures in New York, compared with up to 80% in other states. (the share of children is higher in both cases) Many states with lower poverty rates than ours nonetheless get a higher matching share. The larger the share of health care expenditures covered by Medicaid, the higher New York’s tax burden and/or worse its services relative to other states. And, with health care funded at the state level, other states have an incentive to ship their sickest residents here for treatment on our dime.
It appears that while gaining a candidate, New York lost a Senator, if it ever had one.
Expand MEDICARE Senator Clinton, not MEDICAID. And let’s have one program providing basis health care for all, with people permitted to spend more on their own if they want, not 100 spending streams for different people — with many falling through the cracks.