Okay gang.
I met Bill Clinton yesterday. I was invited to a meeting at his office in Harlem to just have a discussion with the former President. There were about fifteen VLBs (very lucky bloggers).
Where do I begin? First with a huge thank you to Peter Daou who extended the invitation.
So there I was in President Clinton's conference room, sandwiched between (fasten your seatbelts), ARMANDO, yes Armando (also known as Big Tent Democrat), on my right and Chris Bowers on my left. I was always a huge fan of Armando, he made me laugh and cry at the same time, so it was terrific to finally meet him. And he's a lovely guy! Sorry to give up the secret, Armando.
Here's a photo. Eve in the orange jacket. Armando on the far left.
So let's get to the meat, healthcare, then I'll try and give you some sense of other topics he covered. The discussion was on the record.
And I'll begin with a disclaimer, I've been an unabashed supporter, and Bill Clinton true-believer since the day he held up a card during the 93 or 94 State of the Union and said that all Americans would have this card which would guarantee them affordable health care. But alas, it was not to be. So I'm not an impartial observer of this great and flawed American genius and hero.
I asked the healthcare question--a bit clumsily, cause I was nervous, but with a load of encouragement from Armando scribbling me words of support on his yellow legal pad. I think it produced a decent amount of information. Basically I told President Clinton the crisis had morphed into a catastrophe and I asked whether he believed we would see meaningful reform this year. I think I also said, using the concept of "economic viability", which he had just used while speaking about climate change, why we would not have a single payer system which is the only "economically viable" (to use his words), solution?
Here's the gist of what he said on healthcare:
- To begin, he repeated almost verbatim, what he was quoted saying last week in the New York Times.
"He’s got a better Congress, a more receptive climate," Mr. Clinton said in a recent interview. "He also has, frankly, a better — at least more politically saleable — set of proposals."
. . .Mr. Clinton said that as he looked at the matter in 1993 he believed that he had two options for providing universal coverage: either a tax increase or an employer mandate. Since he had already expended a lot of political capital on a deficit-reduction plan that included tax increases as well as spending cuts, he said he had to rely on the employer mandate.
"If you had an employer mandate, then you could leave the small businesses out or come up with enough revenues to subsidize the smaller employers — and since we couldn’t raise taxes, having an employer mandate guaranteed that the National Federation of Independent Businesses would join with the insurance companies," he said. "Now they don’t have to have an employer mandate, because they can offer buy-ins. I hope they won’t give up on this public option."
- He went on, "the political landscape today is vastly different, for one thing, we don't have a Republican leader (Bob Dole), who is running for President and determined to kill reform."
Most important he said, "the health crisis (which I told him is no longer a crisis, but a catastrophe), is exponentially worse."
"Let's talk financing", President Clinton said next. He said, "health insurers cream people and administrative costs are outrageous."
Then he talked about single-payer. "Here's the deal on single payer. Rationally, single payer is the best system", he continued, "our system is the worst, most expensive and least effective."
Bill Clinton and the 51 vote healthcare solution:
Here's where it gets both interesting and infuriating.
Clinton said President Obama should try and get 60 votes but not if it means sacrificing good legislation. He said, "if we don't get enough real reform in there, healthcare costs will be 20% of GDP in a few years."
He said, "I would spend a little time trying to get to 60, then I would go for 51 votes." He said the reason the 51 vote solution is not ideal is because Obama will have to continue dealing with these morons (MY WORDS, NOT WHAT CLINTON SAID), after legislation passes with a simple majority and they will behave like very angry revved up killer bees.
Clinton made the point, which I think is worth repeating, that Obama has "the best Congress since Kennedy was assassinated" and everyone was tripping all over themselves to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with LBJ.
Given all this, he said he was feeling quite optimistic because, "we have better than a 50% chance to get reform." Yes, this is accurate,it's not a typo, this is what he said, "better than a 50% chance".
I ended by sqeezing in one more quick question. "Mr President, are you going to twist any arms?" "I'll do whatever I'm asked to do." I'd say to anyone reading, he's waiting to be asked.
So, warriors, we have our work cut out.
Some other issues/ideas/comments/questions:
- The meeting began with a long monologue on climate change and the work of the Clinton Foundation. There's no doubt the extraordinary work of the foundation is the passion of his life.
He spoke at length about his work as the newly appointed UN Ambassador to Haiti, a country(the poorest in the Western Hemisphere), he is determined to help. He had just returned to his office from a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and Haiti was clearly on his mind.
He said he keeps two files with him at all times which he constantly updates, one on the economy, and another on climate change.
He is concerned about whether his foundation and presumably all charitable institutions will be affected by the economic situation.
I believe he said that last year, over "2 million people in poor countries were receiving AIDS drugs" due to the work of his foundation.
On climate change he said. "it's almost too late to avoid the catastrophic effects", then he offered a frightening statistic saying, within the next few years, "50, 60 perhaps up to 80 million people will be forced to relocate away from coastal areas of the workd!"
He urged us and everyone to read and write about a very alarming and underreported study from MIT, which he reminded us "was not some left wing organization."
- Someone asked whether Paul Farmer would get a federal appointment (sorry, but I didn't note for what position). Clinton told a lovely story that after he was first introduced to Dr. Farmer, he called Chelsea and asked her if she knew who he was. Chelsea said, "Dad, Paul Farmer is the Albert Schweitzer of our generation." Sweet.
- Clinton said he told Hillary after the 2006 election that he was sure that the nominee of the Democratic Party would win the presidency unless "s/he's a bank robber."
My Impressions:
President Clinton's office is in the Federal Building on 125th Street in the middle of Harlem. The building is a typical federal building--okay but far from elegant. There are people lined up outside the building waiting to access myriad federal services. Though President Clinton undoubtedly comes in and out through the basement, it's magnificent that his office is in such a location.
The conference room we sat in was rimmed with books and had spectacular views South of all Manhattan. I took a look, and the books were carefully arranged by subject matter. I saw a section on New York City, American history, I think I saw a philosophy section.
When the meeting started to wrap up, he literally had to be dragged from the room by his aides clearly mortified that he'd be late for his next appointment. When one assistant barked, "one more question", Clinton said something like, "hold it, I'm taking three more!" Then he gradually rose from his chair and pulled us all together for a photo, which I'm hoping to receive and when I do, I'll post.
I want to end by telling you that Bill Clinton reads and loves blogs. He specifically said that the best coverage of the Clinton Global Initiative comes from the blogs.
So keep up the good work, fellow bloggers. Keep changing the world, one blog at a time. Bill Clinton notices, as do many others, what more could we ask for.
Thank you, President Clinton and Secretary Clinton, from all of us, for your service to our country.