Obama and Universal Health Care - October 2007

On October 9, 2007, Obama did an interview with the Concord Monitor editorial board.

Here's a list of audio clips from that interview.

Naked Emperor News highlights a clip of Obama talking about health care and the 50 plus 1 strategy of politics. He says such a strategy won't work when it comes to passing bold measures such as UNIVERSAL health care.



Transcript

OBAMA: You've got to break out of what I call the sort of 50 plus 1 pattern of presidential politics, which is, you have nasty primaries where everybody's disheartened. Then you divide the country -- 45% on one side, 45% on the other, 10% in the middle... and battle it out, and then maybe you eke out a victory of 50 plus 1. You can't govern.

You know, you get Air Force One. I mean, there are a lot of nice perks, but you can't deliver on health care. We're not going to pass universal health care with a 50 plus 1 strategy. We're not going to have a serious bold energy policy of the sort that I proposed yesterday unless you build a working majority.

Interesting.

I think Obama's perspective has changed in the past two years.

I think now he'd argue that a 50 plus 1 strategy is adequate. Sure, he'd rather have a large, obedient majority rather than struggle for every vote; but a win is a win.

He's certainly enjoying the perks of being president.