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Democrats' Platform Draft Seeks To Soothe Clinton

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The Associated Press

Published: August 10, 2008

PITTSBURGH - Democrats shaped a set of principles Saturday that commits the party to guaranteed health care for all, heading off a potentially divisive debate and edging the party closer to the position of Barack Obama's defeated rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The party's platform committee moved smoothly through a range of issues for the fall campaign and approved a document that will go to the Democratic convention in Denver this month for adoption.

There was little dissent - or room for it - in the day's meeting, and a compromise on health policy took one flash point off the table.

Obama, soon to be the Democratic nominee, has stopped short of proposing to mandate health coverage for all. He aims to achieve something close to universal coverage by making insurance more affordable and helping struggling families pay for it.

Advisers to Obama and Clinton told the party's platform meeting they were happy with the compromise, adopted without opposition or without explanation as to how health care would be guaranteed.

Under any system in play, most people would still put out money for health insurance as they do now, but they would get help when needed.

That was a common feature of the plans put forward by Obama and Clinton in the primaries. But she would have required everyone to get insurance while his plan makes it mandatory only for children.

For the 186-member platform committee, one imperative Saturday was to satisfy Clinton loyalists still sore from the often acrimonious primary fight while keeping policy firmly in synch with Obama's campaign.

Democrats made mostly cosmetic changes to a platform draft prepared for the meeting, a process designed to showcase unity more than to air differences in the party at large on hot-button issues such as the Iraq war, abortion and health care.

The draft party platform did acknowledge Clinton's successes and includes a veiled suggestion that she was treated unfairly.

"Our party is proud that we have put 18 million cracks in the highest glass ceiling," it added, a bow to the total of votes Clinton received in the caucuses and primaries.

It also said, "...We believe that standing up for our country means standing up against sexism and all intolerance. Demeaning portrayals of women cheapen our debates, dampen the dreams of our daughters and deny us the contributions of too many. Responsibility lies with us all."

ON THE PLATFORM

Party platforms are a statement of principles that are not binding on the candidates or the next president and they are typically given little attention after they are adopted. The Democrats' platform, to be adopted at the national convention later this month, is tuned to Barack Obama's proposals:

•Says Democrats "expect to complete redeployment from Iraq within 16 months," reflecting Obama's time frame but not the tone of certainty he brought to it when he was running in the primaries.

•Reasserts his promise of energy rebates to struggling families, pension subsidies, a crackdown on predatory lenders, higher taxes for families earning over $250,000, tax breaks for others, billions for economic stimulus and "direct high-level diplomacy, without preconditions," in the case of Iran.

•Promises a multilateral approach to improving the North American Free Trade Agreement.

•On abortion, "The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman's right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right."

•Promises "tough, practical, and humane immigration reform in the first year of the next administration."

The Associated Press

Information from the Los Angeles Times and McClatchy-Tribune was used in this report.

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