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Edited on Thu Feb-14-08 04:24 PM by hfojvt
I started thinking that Obama and Clinton supporters have quite a bit in common and that we should perhaps list these things. Many of the things Obama supporters hope for from an Obama Presidency would also be acheived (or worked for) in a Clinton Presidency and vice versa. Maybe we should think about them, make a wish list. Such as:
1. pro-choice, pro civil rights, anti-corporate judges 2. likely to end the war in Iraq 3. less likely to start a war with Iran (or Venezuela or Uzbekistan or Bomevia or wherever) 4. increase in the minimum wage 5. rollback of the bush taxcuts, and more progressive taxes 6. increased funding for things like Headstart, LIHEAP, SCHIP, etc. 7. increased environmental, workplace, and financial regulation of corporations 8. less lobbying influence 9. election trustability (maybe or maybe not, but definitely not with a Republican President)
and so on. No candidate promises or will give us exactly what we want, but probably out of 100 things I want from an Obama Presidency, I will get 95 of them with Clinton and 12 of them with McCain, plus a whole lot of crap I would want to stop would come along with a McCain Presidency.
Then I remembered the long history of abuses and usurpations that was the last Clinton administration - NAFTA, telecom deregulation, tax cuts for the wealthy, welfare "reform" for the poor, etc. Basically a Democratic Party that was pulled to the right and became more of a corporate party.
That being said, at this point I cannot support Hillary even if she wins the nomination, because
A. When Bill was President he pushed for things we did not expect a Democrat to push (capital gains and estate tax cuts) and did not oppose vigorously things we expect a Democrat to oppose.
B. He constantly used rightwing ideology - "The Era of Big Government is Over" "Fiscal Responsibility". Always seeming to want to "Out-Republican" the Republicans.
C. His blurring of the differences between Democrats and Republicans. Making the Democratic party into more of a "socially liberal corporate party" instead of a "working class party" lead to huge losses in Congress, in Governorships and probably in state legislatures too. He undercut the entire progressive message. The RNC ran against Hillary in 1994 and won big.
D. Granted, Hillary is not Bill and is perhaps more liberal than Bill, but she is running on his record, not repudiating it.
E. She pretends to be for working people, but her proposals are aimed at helping those above the median income, people in the 50-80% range, with no attention except lip service to those below the median income. She also adopts Republican rhetoric - "tax credits", "fiscal responsibility", "trillion dollar tax increase on the middle class" (to describe a tax increase on workers making over $110,000 a year).
F. She has a history of caving to corporations and war mongers. IWR and the bankruptcy bill are two prime examples.
I wanted this to be a unity thread but I cannot seem to help myself. I see the DLC as an enemy and Hillary as part of the DLC. They have pulled and continue to pull the Democratic party to the right, and that is what I am determined to fight with every click of my keyboard!!!! and even a few exclamation points!!! I want the DLC to compromise, hold their nose and vote for a populist progressive instead of forcing populist progressives to hold their nose and vote for a DLCer.
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