A few weeks after the 1994 election—the one in which the "Republican Revolution" ended six decades of Democratic rule in the House of Representatives—I got a chance to interview the new House speaker, Newt Gingrich. The Republicans had seized the House, in part, because Bill and Hillary Clinton had failed to persuade the public and Congress to pass a comprehensive healthcare bill. There was massive public support for universal health insurance, Gingrich conceded. But the Clinton approach—one massive bill—left too big a target, the speaker said. Americans could not comprehend what the legislation would do, and what it would mean to them, and were easily convinced by the insurance companies and HMOs and other affected interests that the wiser and safer course was to do nothing. "They should have done it piece by piece," said...
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