Explaining Hilary

Megan McCardle goes a long way in explaining Hilary for me. One of the things I object to is academic high mindedness about the relationship of pharmaceutical companies to doctors. In part this is, for me, about profitable interchange of ideas that may occur at dinners to promote a product. For instance I learned more about the physiology of pain at a talk on Neurontin. Or it may just be about things that make life a little easier or more fun. For instance I weigh patient's on an Equetro branded scale. I didn't know about the type of scale it is an example of. These things are now not apparently permissible. Many politicians know this but there are obviously strains of 'reform' that oppose their existence, similarly in campaign finance and across the spectrum of social interaction. These reforms are to keep the big players from influencing what happens to the 'little people.' Now Hilary is in the camp that is for the little people and so she speaks as a lawyer for that point of view. She however knows otherwise and doesn't apply it to herself, think cattle futures, think Bill's sexual affairs, think debt forgiveness in Whitewater, emails. De nada as a new constituency would say but it doesn't mean not being a lawyer for 'reform,' 'transparency,' FOIA requests requests, all things important to a part of her base.