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To: SirRealist who wrote (795)	3/3/2002 11:34:24 AM
From: Poet	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21057

Hi SR, Sorry for the delay in responding to you about Clinton. I got sidetracked this morning by the thought that perhaps all great thinkers are really unconscious Christians, yearning to breathe free.... Anyway,I wasn't following the health care issue as closely as I'd thought at the time, as I was unaware of the huge influence of the insurance companies on the decision-making process. What I WAS aware of was the lobbying on the part of the big pharmas, particularly Merck, whose Merck-Medco pharmaceutical benefits plan was the monster baby of someone who is no longer near and dear to me. The amount of time and effort they spent in Washington at that time was astounding. Your point about the failure of Clinton's initial dealings with the military -- in the form of the semi-disastrous "don't ask, don't tell" policy, is well-taken. I hadn't considered his shaky footing with military brass, but it makes sense. I like what you wrote here a lot: A more realistic approach would have been to build a stronger rapport with military men first, then bring such a controversial topic to the table later, but Big Bill basically let his agenda get hijacked by an overeager group, which permanently lost the potential for a growing base of support from GIs. Your statement that Waco was one of his biggest botches took me surprise. My impression has been that the blame is firmly on Reno and ATF. When you have some time, would you expand on it?