Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton uses cell phone on her arrival at a Presidential Health Care Forum, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007, in Washington. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
By David Nitkin
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton recalled her humbling childhood experience with Washington-mandated exercise today as she discussed how the White House could be a bully pulpit from which a president encourages children toward healthier habits.
"When I was in school, we had the president's physical fitness awards," Clinton said during a forum on health care at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation in Washington. "We were all rounded up and taken to the gym, where you had to jump and run."
"I was horrible at it," Clinton said. "They kept telling me to run. I said 'I am running.'"
But her schoolgirl experiences in Park Ridge, Illinois, she said, "sent a very strong message to children that the president cares about your health care."
"I personally believed President Eisenhower and President Kennedy were in the White House, signing my certificate," she said.
Fielding questions from a panel of health care journalists for about an hour, Clinton discussed her support for universal health care coverage and how the plan she unveiled last month would achieve that goal.
Addressing the future of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, Clinton said she believed that in the long term, comprehensive health reform was needed to cover uninsured children. "In the interim, we have to continue this program," she said, without specifying funding levels she would find acceptable as part of a negotiation with the White House.
Earlier in the day, the House of Representatives failed to override President Bush's veto of a $35 billion expansion of SCHIP approved by Congress.
Doing more childhood reminiscing, Clinton spoke of the novelty of eating at the first McDonald's restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois -- about three miles from Park Ridge. "It was like going out to dinner," she said. But with the prevalence of fast food today, people are eating constantly: "They eat in their cars. They eat everywhere."
Responding to a question from Timothy Johnson of ABC News, Clinton acknowledged mistakes she made while advocating a universal health care plan during her husband's administration.
It was a mistake, she said, for the White House draft the legislation. "It was not a smart way of vesting the Congress," she said.
The plan was too complex, she said, so that it "couldn't withstand the barrage of attacks that came at it."
"I take responsibility for that," Clinton said.
Later, asked to provide more details of how she would pay for her health proposal estimated to cost $110 billion, she emphasized lessons learned in the early 1990s, saying that she had "no intention of producing" a specific plan if elected.
Rather, she said, she would set the "goals," and allow Congress to draft the legislation.
Clinton is the second candidate to appear at the forum; former Sen. John Edwards participated last month.
See web casts of the sessions and a schedule of upcoming candidate appearances here.
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Comments
who the hell cares? i guess we'll be seeing and hearing about all the trials and tribulations of one of our finest citizens for another 13 months. why is this hag so important to you libs? it's definately not because of her looks. what credentials does she hold to be president?
Posted by: GWB | October 18, 2007 6:49 PM
who the hell cares? i guess we'll be seeing and hearing about all the trials and tribulations of one of our finest citizens for another 13 months. why is this hag so important to you libs? it's definately not because of her looks. what credentials does she hold to be president?
Posted by: GWB | October 18, 2007 6:49 PM
Hey W,
At least our hag is a real woman and not a crossdressing creep:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkS66DoXN-k
Posted by: John E | October 18, 2007 7:52 PM
So Hillary skates again with the reporters not pressing her, saying about her health proposal, that she has "no intention of producing a specific plan if elected." It just boggles the mind that the media lets her get away with such obfuscations. Next, she will suggest colonizing Mars, but "she will have no intention of producing a specific plan." And the media will go ga-ga as usual instead of holding her comments up to the light to show just how ludicrous they are.
Posted by: Grover C. | October 18, 2007 8:46 PM
Somehow the image of Hillary jumping and running just does not compute. At any age. .
Posted by: Guttierez | October 18, 2007 9:07 PM
The president cares about your health care? From a child? Right!
Too bad that running couldn't stop her from having tree trunk legs.
Posted by: whatnow | October 18, 2007 9:57 PM
"why is this hag so important to you libs? it's definately not because of her looks."
I sense the sexual tension in your prose. You must really despise yourself for your secret desires for her.
Posted by: The Capitalist | October 18, 2007 10:23 PM
why do you right wing fanatics always attack Clinton instead of bragging up your own party--the reason is obvious-you have no one to be proud of except Larry Craig,Tom DeLay and Bush--you are pathetic right wing fanatics!!!
Posted by: William Pappas | October 18, 2007 10:24 PM
Nice Picture of Hillary talking to her broker about cattle futures...Big Smile,but she's as phony and crooked as a $3.00 Bill....[Clinton...?]
Paulo
Posted by: Paulo | October 19, 2007 2:00 AM
GWB and whatnow apparently can't concieve that a woman might have value other than as a sex object.
Try to get past puberty boys.
Posted by: AJF | October 19, 2007 9:05 AM
With socialist Hillary it's all about the children. It takes a village to raise a child she says. Children need two loving parents not day care or a village.When both parents spend quality time with children it's not important if they jump or run. This woman is like Eva Peron she is dangerous for all America. Jerry White, Springfield, IL P.S. Please don't cackle anymore Hil.
Posted by: Jerry White | October 19, 2007 9:55 AM
Hitlary is the most dangerous woman in America. She will say anything to anyone in order to gain power. She makes her decisions based on the direction of the polical wind. She comes up with hairbrained entitlements like the $5,000 for every child, and then backs off when she gets the slightest whif of opposition from the MoveOn.org Democrat party. She cannot make a decision and stick with it. She is not fit to be Commander in Chief.
Be afraid, be very afraid.
Posted by: Vincent "Squid" Calamari | October 19, 2007 10:15 AM
Is Jerry White Springfields version of the guy down the block that everyone avoids? Always has something negative to say. For someone that seems to know everything, at least he could say something positive.
Posted by: Gary | October 19, 2007 11:13 AM
Grover:
How much did the media let George Bush get away with on his march to war in Iraq?? A lot more than anything that Hillary has!!!
Funny how the only thing that the right-wingers come up with about Hillary is her looks.
And the cackle, Jerry? It was well deserved laughter to Chris Wallace about a ridiculous question he asked.
Posted by: BobinATL | October 19, 2007 1:34 PM
The government caused the problem with health care in America by over socializing medicine to the extent it is not completive, and we want to exacerbate the problem? Kids have health care. The needy already have health care. The U.S. is not a socialist state ( see http://tinyurl.com/2znnvl ). No one is entitled to be given a house, car, food or health care, etc. If we want these things, we have to earn them. The government does not earn money. Perhaps some of us should take a civics class and learn about America. We all have to labor for what we want. For those who need help there are the charities and state programs. We need to fix the health care issue but we cannot fix it unless we know how it is broken. For the answer, please see http://www.InteliOrg.com/
Posted by: Dr Coles | October 19, 2007 2:13 PM
I wonder if this is another memory of Hillary's such as who she was named after or where Chelsea was on 9-11, etc...?
As far as presidents concerning about fitness, the only thing her husband cared about is if he could get a little action afterwards.
http://www.comedyontap.com/presgirls/mystery.html
Bobin,
The press didn't ley President Bush get away with the march top Iraq because he had the leading dems behind him. Do you need to see the five years worth of quotes to prove it?
Posted by: Terry | October 19, 2007 6:26 PM