By Mort Kondracke,Real Clear Politics
Obama is picking on the wrong people
For one supposedly dedicated to bringing parties together for health care reform,President Barack Obama shows unremitting hostility toward one of them:the health insurance industry.
In practically every speech he gives or town hall he hosts,there’s a slam at insurance profits and methods –and no recognition of the role its lobby,America’s Health Insurance Plans,has taken to advance reform.
AHIP CEO Karen Ignagni,a former AFL-CIO official and Democratic Senate staffer,has departed utterly from the role that the insurance industry played in sinking health reform during the Clinton administration.
AHIP’s predecessor organization,the Health Insurance Industry Association,mounted the famous "Harry and Louise"TV ads that undermined public support for Clintoncare.