A blog post I agree with:Over at The Moderate Voice, Michael Stickings
writes:
I would (will?) support her in the general election, but Hillary isn’t my Democratic pick. I prefer Edwards and Obama (and, yes, of course, Gore). She’s too much like her husband, too much of a triangulator, too cozy with the right, too much about personal ambition and naked self-interest, not committed enough to the liberal, progressive values that lie at the heart of the Democratic Party and my own political philosophy.
I don't think people realize how much damage Bill Clinton did to Democrats and liberal interests. A short list:
- Supported NAFTA.
- Endorsed the Boskin Commission proposals for reformulating the Consumer Price Index - which were implemented to the detriment of everyone on fixed incomes.
- Signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which was a huge giveaway to the established media companies (they got frequencies for free and existing rules to foster competition were abolished ).
- Signed the Welfare Reform bill in 1994. Under the law, no person could receive welfare payments for more than five years, consecutive or nonconsecutive. How about that? After five years, no matter what the circumstances, out you go!
- Sat on his fat ass while the Rwandan Genocide played out. (For those who followed this closely, Clinton even denied logistical support to foreign agencies that wanted to take action.) But hey, Bill issued an apology ten years later and also provided major funding for the Rwandan genocide memorial in Kigali, so I guess he's off the hook.
- Was stupid and selfish with his affair with Monica Lewinski. He shouldn't have been impeached, but talk about giving the Republicans an issue! How much political energy was wasted by Democrats in supporting Bill? (And he "returned the favor" by triangulating, following the advice of Dick Morris.)
Hillary isn't Bill, but they are close enough on policy issues to be worrisome. Remember the
Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005? It put a big hurt on people who get into trouble because of illness or other misfortune. The act was more gravy for the credit card companies. How did Hillary vote? The
record shows that she didn't vote that day (the only Senator to fail to vote). What a profile in courage.
And the Clintons' political calculation are similar. Note how Hillary always seems to be somewhere near the magnetic field of Republicans. What's with her vote for the Kyl-Lieberman amendment that paves the way for an attack on Iran?
Of the Democratic presidential candidates, Hillary is the conservative Democrat the establishment loves.
posted by Quiddity at 9/28/2007 09:14:00 PM
It's even worse than just the fact that she has some bad conservative impulses. As Matthew Yglesias points out repeatedly, including here:
Perception Gap, Hillary Clinton is perceived as more liberal while actually not being so.
I agree with Matt that this is a sad state of affairs for several reasons. I'd prefer someone with liberal inclinations (I feel like it's a rare recent time when some good liberal things can get done) who was perceived as more conservative. Having as Dem nominee the converse is irritating.
Because everything that Clinton doesn't do well, "those liberals" will get blamed anyway.
