Below The Beltway

The debate over Barack Obama’s health care plan is starting to sound eerily similar to something we’ve all seen before:

WASHINGTON (CNN) — In 1994, universal health care was a key policy plan for then-President Bill Clinton. It eventually failed.

Now, 15 years later, another Democratic president is taking on the challenge, but facing an uphill battle from not only from Republicans, but from members of his own party.

Will failing to reform health care have the same consequences for Obama’s administration as it did for Clinton’s?

Like Obama, Clinton came into office with reforming the nation’s health care system as one of his top priorities. Then-first lady Hillary Clinton, who headed the administration’s task force on reforming the system, delivered a 1,000-page plan that was dubbed “Hillary Care,” which required Americans and permanent resident aliens to enroll in a health plan. Other provisions included Americans below a certain income level paying nothing for care.

Republicans decried the plan as overcomplicated and used it to tag the administration as big government-loving, tax-and-spend liberals.

The plan’s failure emboldened Republicans and led to huge Democratic losses in the 1994 midterm elections, allowing the GOP to take control of Congress and stymie other Clinton initiatives.

Now, 15 years later, Obama potentially faces a similar fate.

For Bill Clinton, defeat on health care eventually lead to a Republican Congress.

One wonders what price Barack Obama would pay if things turn out the same for him as they did 15 years ago.