Four years later, the brochure is creased down the middle and worn at the corners.
Tens of thousands of copies were printed during the 2008 election to persuade Iowans, but one of them returned somehow, four years later, to an Obama campaign office in Des Moines.
Inside, the pamphlet lays out the blueprint for what would become known – first mockingly, and later proudly – as Obamacare. The message is tailored, using state-level facts and figures to make the case for universal health care to skeptical Iowa residents.
2008 campaign literature describing the health care plan
Campaign “lit,” as the staffers call it, is distributed like confetti during races – by mail, at events, and left on doorsteps. Inside a typical piece, flattering photographs show the candidate shaking hands with senior citizens and gesturing to rapt audiences.
The inside of the campaign literature
Obama’s old health care piece reminds readers of the long, sad history of the drive for universal health care. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Truman in 1948, Nixon, Clinton – all had called for health care legislation establishing universal coverage but failed.
A letter from then-President Harry S. Truman
Each of those previous attempts didn’t work, the brochure argued, because entrenched interests banded together to preserve the status quo. This time, according to the pamphlet, something would be different.
Six Weeks, Six Votes 