Discussion for article #234593
I think a lot of people who see Hillary as a triangulating corporate stooge will be surprised if she does run. Because she has a lot to offer in the way of ideas, and she keeps her eyes and ears open. Itâs not the 1990s any more.
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Ideas? Everybody walking down the street has ideas.
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No, not everyone. Some are just content with tearing others down.
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Just asking Randy. When you put this out there what do you expect? Itâs not about ideas and keeping âher eyes and ears openâ. Itâs about having the political will and courage to implement your âideasâ.
Next youâre going to say Hillary also has great questions. Fuck the questions, just give me the answers and then implement them. Ideas and questions. We all have them in spades.
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By that I meant that she is aware of what people are saying and what they are going through.
Yes, a good politician has to have ideas of their own, but they must also be able to listen.
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Economic injustice canât be fixed without pissing off greedy rich people. Hillary Clinton is unwilling to do that. Her list of top contributors reads like a Wall Street Whoâs Who: https://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cycle=Career&cid=n00000019
Yup, I think so, too. If you think sheâs an ambitious opportunist, well, given the zeitgeist in the party (and the country), that means sheâll be campaigning on the issues we want articulated, even without a primary challenge. (And if you say, âYeah, talk, what about action?â Well, a primary challenge wonât affect that, but a House and Senate with as many Warrens and Ellisons as we can get will.) And we canât forget her genuinely progressive political DNA: from her work for the Childrenâs Defense Fund to the fact that Billâs staff would complain that she was always trying to pull him to the left, itâs clear that, unlike from the GOP, a populist economic message coming from her wonât be fraudulent. (And she knows how to run that way â remember the second half of the 2008 campaign.) Yes, she gets money from Wall Street; yes, sheâll be playing to the middle rhetorically. But that is how candidates win â the trick is realizing what âthe middleâ actually is. And if even the Republicans realize what it is, as demonstrated by the lip-service theyâre giving to inequality, I think itâs a safe bet Clinton does, too.
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Exactly, and at the risk of being labeled a Hillary-bot (Clinton-bot? pantsuit-bot?) I agree,
Also â and this is not meant for you â but I am increasingly annoyed by people who donât think we need to win the âcenterâ and need only to win over the most progressive wing of the Democratic Party.
What we need to do is reclaim the center by raising awareness and reminding people of how our policies will result in widespread benefits. Only then can we move the center leftward.
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Right: the trick is making the center realize that for the most part, going by policy polling rather than labels, whatâs been labeled âleftâ is actually where they are.
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Bingo!
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Put the mug down, and slowly back away from the coffee.
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Just in case someone on Hillâs team reads TPM: the notion that a R.E. property is worth what the last sucker within a 55-mile radius paid for a 2-bedroom apartment or house is what keeps R.E. values skyrocketing. There is no value system other than that. R.E. advertising is based on pie-in-the-sky language which, once a client see whatâs actually offered, proves fraudulent but is un-punished in the ârealâ real estate milieu. Sweetheart construction and land-use deals in exchange for 6 or 7 âaffordableâ apartments in a condo building chock-a-block full of million-dollar-plus apartments keep the riffraff in the ghetto. Middle class? Itâs a joke in the biggest cities. Real Estate interests control politicians, politicians favor real estate developers. If you can un-do that, Iâll go almost as far as to set myself on fire to get you elected.
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Randy, thanks for being the first one, but not the last, to stick your neck out for Clinton in what can be a sometimes hostile forum vis a vis HRC. Sheâs smart and knows she must heed what her base says. Loudest of all is income inequality, and proposals leading to at least a partial solution is THE issue which will propel her. No, sheâs not Sanders or Warren and sheâs not Robert Reich in her left leanings, but she understand whatâs going on in the country even if she herself is fortunate enough to not live it. In an earlier generation the Kennedys were the equivalent of the blue bloods of this country, and yet they had an innate understanding of what others not so fortunate needed done on their behalfâŚ
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The great majority of people in this country like leftist policies until they find out they are leftist and then quickly retreat to the comfort of hating leftists/progressives/liberals.
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Thanks, littlegirlblue. I have a lot of respect for Hillary and would support her if she were nominated.
I donât understand the hostility to her at a time when there seems to a relatively small bench of presidential contenders for 2016 â especially since her poll numbers are so good. If Warren, Biden, Sanders, Kerry, Gore, Dean, Franken or some other Democrat were running I would also consider them, but since they donât seem to be, I donât understand the pile-on on Clinton.
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Only when Democrats let Republicans get away with misrepresenting those policies, a problem weâve had for too long. But when Sherrod Brown wins handily in Ohio â or when the late-2008-campaign, Norma Rae-vintage Clinton virtually sweeps the âheartlandâ primaries â itâs clear that a fighting populist from the left can win the middle. Sheâs got that fight in her, and I fully expect her to put it to good use in a way thatâll be a pleasant surprise to many of her detractors.
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Agreed, and now we can sit back and wait for the Frank and Claire Underwood comparisons (House of Cards if you have not yet had the pleasure).
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Havenât spent the money, and Iâm torn between curiosity and dread given my love of the British original, but Iâve picked it up from the cultural ether. And yeah, the casual, bogus references of the âMSMâ to how the Clintons think they can get away with what others canât are already commonplace. SighâŚ
I saw the British program after Iâd seen at least a few of the House of Cards episodes (available on DVD of course), and while there are similarities and of course the inspiration, the American version is what we can understand more readily since it is about the U.S. Congress and not the sometimes obscure Parliament and its machinations. I, the original movie junkie, can guarantee you will find it money well spent however you bring House of Cards to your monitor or TV screen.