{"id":2699,"date":"2008-01-07T07:44:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-07T13:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/01\/changing-change\/"},"modified":"2009-08-22T14:10:06","modified_gmt":"2009-08-22T20:10:06","slug":"changing-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/01\/changing-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Changing ‘change’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Carter Bundy<\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

John Edwards<\/a> and Barack Obama<\/a> would, in my humble opinion, each make a fine president. Their ideas are progressive (with one notable exception discussed below), their hearts are in the right place and each has some good experience inside and outside Washington<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

What I don\u2019t like are their absurd attacks, mostly on Hillary Clinton<\/a> but also on Governor Richardson<\/a>, that somehow having been part of a previous administration precludes one from being an agent of change. If anything, in this case, the opposite is true.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Edwards\u2019 big line to differentiate himself from Clinton and Richardson is \u201cthere are two candidates of change left now,\u201d as though Hillary and Big Bill are totems of the Bush Republican status quo. That\u2019s a cynical, farcical and patently untrue statement.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Changing health care<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Hillary was the major public figure in America<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place> fighting for universal health care when it wasn\u2019t trendy or polling well. Her plan was destroyed not only by the insurance industry and Republicans, but also by (mostly Southern) Democrats.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Hillary put herself on the line, personally and politically, for something that no one else had been willing to do since President Truman floated the idea in the late 40\u2019s.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Even though conservative, corporate forces shot her down, the legacy of her work stands today: SCHIP<\/a>. That program has provided health insurance to literally millions of poor kids. You want to talk about change? She\u2019s done it, in a massive and powerful way.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t recall seeing Edwards lend any of his time, money or private-sector fame to the effort. Nor do I recall his leading a national charge for universal coverage as a senator, even though he was in office all the way through early 2005. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Barack, through no fault of his own, was too young to have done much to support Hillary\u2019s universal care. To his credit, he is pushing to expand health coverage, which puts him way ahead of any Republican. But his plan does not even attempt to be universal. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I had the privilege of serving on Governor Richardson\u2019s Health Coverage Task Force. Everyone even remotely familiar with health industry economics will tell you that to have true universal coverage, one of two things must happen to make sure people are actually covered. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The first option is the best one, and it\u2019s where Kucinich<\/a> is spot on: simply make coverage automatic. That\u2019s somehow deemed \u201csocialist\u201d by most American voters, even though our military and Congress have it, so none of the Dem final four are proposing it.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The second option is to mandate coverage. We mandate car insurance all over America<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place>, but somehow whoever authored Barack\u2019s plan thinks that protecting your car is more important than protecting your family. I understand Obama\u2019s wanting to stand out from the rest of the Dem field on this, but he picked a really unprogressive way to do so.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Obama\u2019s comparison of the other Dem\u2019s mandates to Romney\u2019s<\/a> is flawed. Romney\u2019s mandate doesn\u2019t address affordability for the poor and middle class, something Clinton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, Richardson and Edwards all do.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the economic reality of unmandated \u201cuniversal\u201d coverage: One of the goals of all the plans is to eliminate pre-existing conditions as a barrier to affordable coverage. That means, particularly if you\u2019re young and healthy, you have no incentive to pay for health insurance. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Heck, even if the worst happens \u2013 HIV\/AIDS, cancer, diabetes \u2013 you can sign up later. Why pay now? It\u2019s called adverse selection. It\u2019s predictable, it\u2019s natural and it happens all the time.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

As a result, the pool for everyone else becomes riskier and less affordable. That in turn causes some of the people who do need care right now to drop out.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

By leaving millions out because of his objection to mandates, Obama\u2019s health plan offers the least change of the final four. Clinton and Richardson, with their histories of trying to implement real change, have an edge over Edwards. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Change isn\u2019t just about being young or different, it\u2019s about doing things, and on health care, Clinton and Richardson have done and are doing things.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Changing energy<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Likewise, Governor Richardson has worked his tail off to move New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> to becoming an alternative-energy state. He\u2019s recruited alternative-energy companies, created meaningful subsidies for private-sector investment and expanded state alternative-energy expenditures.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

He even gave up the traditional gubernatorial entitlement of gas-guzzling SUVs. For a guy who likes to, ummm, explore the boundaries of vehicular aerodynamics, that wasn\u2019t nothing!<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

As secretary of energy, he was out front on these issues before they were popular. Having a Republican House and Senate limited his ability to move those issues, but he was an agent of change.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Meanwhile Barack voted for fossil-fuel subsidies in Southern Illinois<\/st1:place> (a senator has to look out for jobs in his or her state, but still\u2026) Edwards? Nada. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Change + experience = results<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

All four Dems offer change ideas, but only two have put them into action. The fact that Clinton and Richardson have been through those battles is, to me, a plus.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Acting as though experience and change are mutually exclusive is not only factually incorrect, it counters the reality of what it takes to achieve change.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

While I like and respect Edwards and Obama, if either one wants my vote in November, they\u2019ll have to lose the dismissive, false attacks on Clinton and Richardson, who have been fighting for and achieving change for decades.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Bundy is the political and legislative director for AFSCME<\/a> in New Mexico<\/st1:state> and, in that capacity, has been working to elect Clinton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. The opinions in his column are personal and do not necessarily reflect any official AFSCME position. You can learn more about him by clicking here<\/a>. Contact him at carterbundy@yahoo.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Carter Bundy John Edwards and Barack Obama would, in my humble opinion, each make a fine president. Their ideas are progressive (with one notable exception discussed below), their hearts are in the right place and each has some good experience inside and outside Washington. What I don\u2019t like are their absurd attacks, mostly on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bundy-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2699\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}