Compare And Contrast Clinton And Obama Care

Both the Clinton and Obama administrations expended considerable effort during their first term attempting to persuade Congress to pass major legislation which would reform the American Healthcare system. Both efforts were met with considerable public opposition. And yet, while the Clinton effort ultimately proved fruitless, Obama’s endeavor let to the passage of the Affordable Care Act. What can account for these differing outcomes? The history of the Clinton and Obama health care reform proposals indicates both the importance of political capital, and the limits of executive control over the development of legislation. The Affordable Care Act passed because Obama entered the Presidency with a larger degree of political support than President Clinton had, and more importantly, because he adopted a more successful

legislative strategy. President Obama demonstrated a greater degree of flexibility, and a greater willingness to work with Congress to develop and pass legislation rather than to attempt to dictate to the institution, when compared to the Clinton administration’s endeavor.

The failure of Clinton’s healthcare reform proposal is perhaps best understood with the wider context of Clinton’s struggle with the legislative branch during his first term.

Despite the advantage of unified government, Clinton struggled to persuade congress to pass much of his first term agenda. The principle achievement of the early years of the Clinton administration, the 1993 Budget, was passed by an extremely narrow margin. Clinton’s stimulus effort failed to pass. Clinton’s first term strategy for persuading Congress was largely unsuccessful, despite the advantages associated with unified government. In contrast, Obama’s legislative strategy during the first two years of his Presidency was for the most part successful. Despite shared party identity, the Obama and Clinton administrations used different approaches with the legislative branch and therefore experienced different levels of policy success. Obama also had a political advantage not afforded to Clinton. Obama entered the Presidency with a higher proportional of the vote compared with Clinton. Conditions in Congress were also more favorable to Obama than they had been under

Clinton.

However, the broader explanation for why healthcare reform legislation was passed under Obama rather than Clinton is Clinton’s failure to engage Congress in the process, and Obama’s decision to focus on such engagement. Though President Obama has been criticized for his tendency to delegate to Congress during the crafting of legislation, that same tendency was an important factor in securing the passage of the Affordable Care Act. The difference between Clinton’s failure and Obama’s success was the cumulative effect of a wide variety of differences between their political contexts and their tactics. Neither the passage of the Affordable Care Act nor the eventual abandonment of the 1993 proposal was inevitable. Their divergent policy outcomes provide a unique opportunity to examine the behavioral differences between the Clinton and Obama administrations and their relationship with Congress during their respective periods of unified government. The Affordable Care Act’s enactment occurred despite obstacles both within Congress and within the political environment outside of the institution. Obama’s Presidential leadership was a crucial factor in insuring that those obstacles did not prove fatal to the reform effort.