AP’s Almost Non-Report on Hillary Clinton’s Legislative Priorities

Articles such as this illustrate what is wrong with so much political reporting. AP is running a story entitled Clinton Outlines Legislative Priorities. The bulk of the article is centered around non-news such as how she is deflecting “questions about her presumed presidential ambitions.” There’s nothing on her legislative priorities until late in the article.

Granted the possibility of her running for President is what people are interested, but from my perspective the fact that she mgiht become President makes her legislative priorites (the supposed subject of the article) even more important. If she might be President, I want to know her priorities and stands on the issues as this might give an indication of what type of President she would make.

Finally, in the last three paragraphs, we learn a little about the subject of the article:

Clinton outlined a range of challenges she said Democrats would tackle in the coming months, such as trimming the federal deficit, reducing dependence on foreign oil and improving the image of the United States abroad.

She also said Democrats would focus on improving the quality and affordability of health care–a touchy matter for the former first lady, who in 1993 led her husband’s calamitous attempt to overhaul the nation’s health care system. The failure of that effort helped Republicans win control of both the Senate and House the following year.

“Health care is coming back,” Clinton warned, adding, “It may be a bad dream for some.”

Hillary mentioning health care is no surprise. What I want to know is whether she plans on sticking to her old ideas, or if she has learned anything since 1993 when she came up with that awful plan which led the Democrats to a well-deserved thumpin’ in 1994. More than anything else, this might determine whether I could consider voting for Hillary for President. Unfortunately the media is overly concerned with the horse race and ignores discussion of substance on policy matters.

1 Comment

  1. 1
    kj says:

    “Unfortunately the media is overly concerned with the horse race and ignores discussion of substance on policy matters.”

    You know, I’d think even the corporate owners of national media would get sick of their horse race coverage. But then, maybe they’re all watching their Tivo’ed shows and skip the “news,” like I do. :-\

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