Bill Clinton’s encouraging words
Posted: Thursday, June 11, 2009 11:18 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
White House, Economy, Barack Obama
From NBC's Alex Beinstein
Former President Bill Clinton and President Obama have had their tense moments, but Clinton is confident about Obama’s chances of succeeding at health care.
Per
Peter Baker of the New York Times, Clinton finally thinks the stars have aligned to pass a bill. “He’s got a better Congress, a more receptive climate,” Clinton said. “He also has, frankly, a better -- at least more politically saleable -- set of proposals.”
A senior fellow at the Brookings Institute concludes, “Obama’s approach can almost be characterized as the un-Clinton approach. He laid out broad principles and encouraged Congress to come up with a plan or plans consistent with those proposals."
*** UPDATE *** Bill Clinton also said this to Greg Sargent back in February: "It’s gonna be much harder to get the doctors and the business community to come out against reform than it was 14 years ago… The only way they can beat it this time is if they can convince public opinion and enough members of Congress that reforming health care now will cost more jobs than it will save. And I think that’s gonna be a pretty hard sell."
And: "[Obama's] gonna be on strong ground… The last election showed a cultural shift in America which had been building for a decade, and a rejection of the economic and social policies of not just the eight years of President Bush but the 12 years before me. There’s a willingness to take a fresh look at all this. I believe he should try, I’m glad he’s going to, and I think it’s a better than 50-50 chance he’ll succeed."
