Majority Whip Clyburn Focuses on Health Care for College Democrats
Campus Progress reports on the opening session of a three-day conference for the College Democrats of America.
By Emily Rutherford and Matt Zeitlin
July 23, 2009
House Majority Whip Rep. James E. Clyburn in Richmond, Virginia last October. (Flickr/Barack Obama)
Today the 50th annual College Democrats of America convention began in a small conference room at the Democratic National Committee headquarters on South Capitol Street in Washington, D.C. with a speech by a man who, on Tuesday, had celebrated his 69th birthday. The man was House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC), and his speech to about 80 college students focused on the upcoming fight to pass health care legislation in Congress, noting the “donut hole” in Medicare prescription. Clyburn’s remarks were indicative of the mood at the very earliest stage of the convention’s four days of meetings, speeches, workshops and elections. CDA is making a move, as outgoing College Democrats National Council Chair Jamarr Brown put it later in the day, “from electioneering to organizing.”
Clyburn’s speech moved from wonky to folksy to somewhat disconnected from his audience. He related a long and involved anecdote about his wife’s attempts to get access to health care treatment in the face of rising costs. He segued into an explanation of how the Democrats’ health care plan would guarantee that every American would have access to basic coverage, but could buy into a more expensive plan of their choice. As Clyburn put it, “We want to make sure every American gets a Ford Taurus. If you want a Lincoln Towncar you can pay for it.” Clyburn stressed that “the future of the Democrats depends on health care.” He finished his speech with another car metaphor, illustrating a point about competitive insurance plans with a reference to Toyota.
After Clyburn spoke Katie Naranjo, the outgoing College Democrats President, rallied the attendees with an enthusiastic “Fired up?” The audience instinctively responded, “Ready to go!” The CDA had clearly not totally abandoned the election campaign that inspired so much activism.
As the convention attendees prepared to leave to tackle service projects for the afternoon, several spoke about the future of CDA in a post-election world and what they hoped to get out of this weekend.
Kathleen Digan:
Jamarr Brown:
Matt Zeitlin and Emily Rutherford are editorial interns and staff writers for Campus Progress. Follow Matt and Emily on Twitter.
House Majority Whip Rep. James E. Clyburn in Richmond, Virginia last October. (Flickr/Barack Obama)
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