As Predicted, Hillary Marginalized By Kennedy And Obama - No Healthcare Sub-Committee

Monday, November 10, 2008

On July 17th, I wrote a post about why I thought Kennedy decided to endorse Barack Obama.

The basic premise was that Kennedy wanted healthcare for himself and he knew that if Hillary became President that any healthcare plan that got passed would be HER healthcare plan and would forever be associated with Hillary.

And so Kennedy backed Obama in exchange for getting healthcare and securing his own legacy, stepping out of the shadow of his brothers, accomplishing something they never did... passing a major piece of legislation.

It looks like I was right on the nose.

WaPo

Ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) apparently has rebuffed a bold bid by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) to take over health care policy in the Senate when the new Congress convenes in January.

Sources tell the Sleuth that Clinton had approached Kennedy, who chairs the Senate health committee, and Democratic leaders about creating a new special health care subcommittee, one she would chair.

Her hope was to draft the legislation that would fulfill her presidential campaign promise - and President-elect Barack Obama's - for a sweeping health care overhaul plan.

But sources say Kennedy is cool to the idea. So is his top health care aide, Michael Myers, Kennedy's staff director on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

Myers tells the trade publication InsideHealthPolicy that Kennedy will continue handling health care policy at the full committee level. Asked if that meant Clinton would not be tapped to head a new health subcommittee as rumored, Myers said that was correct.

Kennedy, who is continuing treatment for brain cancer in Washington, has already been working on health care legislation in recent weeks. In fact, Kennedy and Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) are both scheduled to brief Obama on health policy this week.

"In the end," Myers told InsideHealthPolicy, "it's President Obama who's going to lead the effort for us."

Democratic sources close to the health committee saw Clinton's entreaty to chair her own subcommittee as an attempt to hijack health care policy, an issue dear to Kennedy's heart and one he has championed for decades.

She won't get a subcommittee chairmanship as a consolation prize for losing the Democratic presidential race, they say.

Looks like the marginalization of the Clinton's and their supporters continues.

Just ask John Dingell...