Evidently it's asking too much of Hillary that she put forth policy proposals

[cali]

I believe that one of the reasons people are discussing such things as her van, her style, etc.- beyond the obvious sexism- is that she hasn't put forth any policy proposals. She scarcely comments on the issues of the day; Trade Promotion Authority (fast track) anyone? Social Security? Still a supporter of Charter Schools? Tax policy?

Republican candidates are being specific; horrendously so. We can discuss Christie on Social Security (or more accurately, excoriate him). Same goes for Rubio on a tax plan and Cruz.

She's had plenty of time. Running for President wasn't exactly a spur of the moment decision.

If you want to be a champion you have to be bold. You have to let people know HOW you'd achieve that. So far it appears that Hillary's campaign has put far more emphasis on style and image than on policy. It's a very cautious campaign.

You want people to talk substantively about her? She has to give us something to discuss.

[lewebley3]

1. Its too early to talk policy: Obama is President now! She supports him!!

Last edited Thu Apr 16, 2015, 11:33 AM - Edit history (1)

Hillary need to go out and meet the people, and listen to them,
and decide what it needed for the future.

Obama is has had such a successful Presidency, she needs to learn where
she can extend his policy, and drop ones she may have a change of
heart in because of the changes Obama has brought!

[Chan790]

3. An object lesson in politics...

if you want to be a trailblazer, you can't run on fluff and charm. You'll never get anywhere. I could tell you to go read about people like Shirley Chisholm and Ann Richards...but you'd be better off reading about the hands-full of women that tried to break those ceilings before they did and failed because they tried to run safe content-free campaigns. Winning requires a brazen "Fuck you, I belong!" attitude.

If Hillary can't articulate at the outset of the campaign what she believes in and what she would do differently from this president...she doesn't belong in this race. Her candidacy and the utter primacy of it, is keeping other candidates that could win and possibly at-least one other female candidate that could break that ceiling...out of the race.

I have to say though...she's taken more positions in the past 2 days than I thought she would...but not nearly enough. Do you really think she doesn't know what she believes in and wants to run on and achieve? If so, I hope you are wrong.

[cali]

8. what positions has she taken? She's playing it cautious. She hasn't offered one policy position

there's exactly nothing on her website regarding policy. Literally.

[Chan790]

16. Here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/04/14/hillary-clinton-says-she-would-support-a-constitutional-amendment-on-campaign-finance-reform/

The other one I recalled turned out to be a lot of populist talking-points and very little policy.

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-04-14/hillary-clinton-comes-out-swinging-at-ceos-and-hedge-fund-managers

[cali]

22. I'm sorry, but she knows that's utterly unrealistic. It may sound good

but a Constitutional Amendment on CU has NO chance of success. None.

[Bluenorthwest]

36. You know what has NO chance of success?

That which is never attempted.

[Oilwellian]

38. We don't need to know her policy positions

The ONLY thing important on her website is the donate button.

[lewebley3]

39. Hillary is her Own Person:She should do it her way!!

Shirley Chisholm and Ann Richards, were failures
compared with Hillary:
Richards failed at reelection, and Chisholm not even
considered running for the Presidency
They were Big fish in small ponds compared to Hillary:
Who has won a Senate Seat, and has run a successful
Presidential campaign.
She has never been lost to a Re pub:
This is a long campaign Hillary needs to pace herself: we
don't want the shininess that gets people out working
for her to where off. There is a problem with perking to
soon.
Also, we all know most of her positions, she is loyal democratic that
supported Obama. If Dem's have enough votes on any legislation
she will sign it, she is a team player.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

42. Shirley Chisholm ran for president in 1972

That being said the consensus is that her roll out is working so far...There will be ample time to speak to the issues and she will.

[lewebley3]

45. Yea: and Chisholm didn't get far! Hillary has a real Chance

Chisholm was Idea log, Ideologies don't get elected, experience skilled
politicians get elected.

We know Hillary's heart we have known if it for years, she is loyal Dem,
she it to old to be greedy.

She will sign anything the Dem's put before her if they get the votes.

[cali]

5. god, that's just so insulting. You can pretend all the live long day that

she's listening to people before developing policies, but that's utter nonsense. Of course she has specific policies crafted on most issues.

And President Obama's tenure has been a mixed bag, imo.

Supporters that can't look at the candidate they support with a critical eye, who can't brook any reasonable criticism of their candidate, always scare me a bit. It's such an abdication.

[arcane1]

10. I don't buy these "listening tours" anyway. They seem like PR stunts.

It shouldn't be our job to tell her what her ideas are.

[cali]

11. I want to hear from her. I want her to answer unscripted questions and stop avoiding the media.

Champion? Get to work, Hillary.

[MineralMan]

24. Every political campaign is a PR campaign.

What did you think campaigns were about?

[arcane1]

26. That's obvious, but it's not what I meant. I am referring to the "listening tours"

I doubt that candidates don't have their ideas already in place before they embark on these things. They aren't listening to the people to find out what needs to be done.

On edit: that may have come across snarky but it wasn't meant to be

[lewebley3]

41. I do buy these listening tours: Hillary need to meet with the people she works for!!

Like how Hillary is starting of slowly, she needs to pace herself!!

[lewebley3]

40. All Candidates are Mixed Bags: What know is the GOP will take this country to War

That is my critical eye: Dem's don't want war unless it is the only choice,

There is know abdication, I have watch and Hillary for almost 30 years, her
loyalty, and policy are known.

If you don't know where Hillary stands on the issues you need to go read
about her at the library, she did published views are most things.

Hillary's support is deep and hard won. She is running for president not saint.

[Proud Public Servant]

2. Two possibilities

Either she genuinely wants to listen to ordinary citizens and formulate her proposals in response to what she hears (good leadership) or she's waiting to drop her proposals until after the listening tour so than can seem like they were suggested by ordinary citizens (good politics). I have no objections to either; it's 9 months til the Iowa Caucus, and there will be plenty of time to talk policy in the fall.

[morningfog]

4. Three: She doesn't want to commit to anything so that she can claim any position later.

[cali]

7. No. She wants to be a champion? Than she damn well better

offer something other than platitudes.

It's truly insulting to voters to offer NO substance.

[morningfog]

6. Hell, a simple list of the issues that matter to her would be a start.

It is arguably too early for nitty gritty details, but how about what issues she cares about? What issues will she be passionate about and run on?

Anything?

[justiceischeap]

15. Here are some issues that are from a WaPo article 3 days ago

ECONOMY
• Clinton sees growing income inequality and wage stagnation as a major problem, and has made this topic a prominent theme in many of her public remarks this year.

SOCIAL ISSUES
• She just released an announcement moments ago urging the Supreme Court to decide in favor of marriage equality
• She is pro-choice

CLIMATE CHANGE
• Clinton has described climate change as the most “consequential, urgent, sweeping” problem facing the world, telling college students in March she hopes for a “mass movement” on the issue. She has promised to protect “at all costs” regulations put in place by the Obama administration that set federal limits on carbon pollution from existing and future power plants.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/where-they-stand-clinton-on-issues-of-the-2016-campaign/2015/04/12/14a1c746-e13d-11e4-ae0f-f8c46aa8c3a4_story.html

On the day of her announcement, this tweet from John Podesta was largely ignored:

Helping working families succeed, building small businesses, tackling climate change & clean energy. Top of the agenda.

Yesterday, in Iowa, she stated she thinks there should be a Constitutional Amendment to repeal Citizens United.

She's saying stuff, but no one really seems to be listening. Oh, and in my quick search, she just brought on 3 policy advisors:

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/clinton-names-top-three-wonks-for-campaign-116975.html

Hillary Clinton has named three senior policy advisers to lead the development of an agenda for her presidential campaign, setting the stage for a series of policy rollouts that campaign officials hope to begin late next month after her early phase of road trips to meet voters.

The team will be headed by Maya Harris, a former senior fellow at the Center for American Progress; Ann O’Leary, a former legislative director to Clinton when she was in the Senate; and Jake Sullivan, a top aide to Clinton while she was Secretary of State and a former national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden.

The announcement of a policy team heavy on expertise in foreign policy, children and families, and global human rights is an early indication of the kinds of policy themes she could emphasize as she launches her campaign. All are issues Clinton has promoted in her recent speeches and in her book, “Hard Choices.”

[cali]

23. Those are NOT policy proposals. They're vague platitudes.

If you actually want some clue to specifics, you can go to the Center for American Progress which is very closely tied to her campaign. It's a start. Link in this op:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026510496

[justiceischeap]

28. I suspect for some she could come up with very detailed policies

and we'd hear "platitudes" and "pandering" and "lies" or "she'll never do it."

She could shoot rainbows out her ass with the cure for cancer attached and people would look at her like she'd done something wrong.

[Maedhros]

31. It's just that we don't believe her rhetoric.

We've been lied to before (cf. 2008) by candidates who give us fiery liberal rhetoric on the campaign trail, only to do the opposite once elected.

Specifics, please, or it's all just smoke blown up our asses.

[justiceischeap]

34. We were given specifics. We're always given specifics.

It doesn't mean they can actually do what they want to do as President. Look how little President Obama has been able to get done because of the Republicans. Hell, to get anything done the last few years, he's had to write executive order after executive order. If the next President is a Democrat, we can expect the exact same thing. The Republicans think doing nothing is a grand strategy and they'll stick with it.

[bigtree]

9. I think it's nonsense

...to suppose she's going to run her entire primary race without specific policy proposals. It's only a couple of days into her campaign and she's already offered an outline of her campaign priorities. I fully expect she will offer much more in the upcoming weeks and months, as she did in her last campaign.

[cali]

12. I think it's bullshit not to put out specific policy proposals when you've been planning to run

for 8 years.

and her outline was nothing but vague platitudes. Furthermore, she knows damned well that there is NO possibility of a constitutional amendment re CU.

[bigtree]

14. I read that

...I think it's bullshit that you can't determine specific positions from a woman who's been in politics for as long as she has.

Like I said, it's ridiculous to expect that specific positions won't be forthcoming and i think jumping the gun and complaining about it now may be good politics in the interim where she's the only announced Democrat and good fodder for the hair-on-fire crowd, but it's misleading and absurd to suggest she won't have a detailed platform as the campaign goes on.

[JaneyVee]

13. You need to follow her on social media.

[Douglas Carpenter]

17. I think that has been the mainstream Democratic Party style for a long, long time

avoid policy discussion and trust your opponents to have such bad ideas that the public might choose Democratic Party fluff and platitudes over Republican Party lunacy.

[Orsino]

18. Well, it's early yet.

The lack of non-Republican opponents means she can take her time coming up with things to stand for.

[MineralMan]

19. Her choice is to roll out her campaign slowly.

At this early stage, that's probably a good idea. I guarantee that she'll be making policy statements during her campaign. Right now, she's talking about broad issues. If you're paying attention to what she is saying, you'll hear hints of what she'll be saying about specific policies down the road.

I think you're going to need to be patient, because she's going to handle her campaign as she and her advisers choose. You may not want to be patient, but it looks like patience will be needed.

For some, whatever policies she lays out will fall on deaf ears. Many will say, "Well, she doesn't mean it" or "She'll promise the world and deliver nothing." We may even know some of the people who will say those things.

I know one thing for sure, though: She's not reading DU nor planning her campaign based on what DUers who don't like her think she should do. Of that I'm certain. It's her campaign, and she'll run it according to what she and the people around her think will be most effective over the long haul of the campaign.

You may not get what you want exactly when you want it. In fact, I'm pretty sure you won't.

[LanternWaste]

20. I suppose I'd pretend to be unable to find her specific policy proposals too if I had nothing better

I suppose I'd pretend to be unable to find her specific policy proposals too if I had nothing better. Lacking that fictitious vacuum, I'd criticize the form they were made in-- on paper? I'd rather hear her talk. Hearing her talk? It must be scripted. Off-the-cuff answer in a Q&A session? It's merely pandering.

We do get rather adept at moving bars and pretending they're stationary to better validate our biases.

[trumad]

21. yawn.

[hifiguy]

25. I am sure some low level minions at Goldman and Citi

are working on them as we type.

[VanillaRhapsody]

27. its not too much...its too soon...

be patient grasshopper and all will be revealed.

[tularetom]

29. You expected specificity from a Clinton?

What you're gonna get is generalities, platitudes and weasel words, carefully crafted by an army of gnomes and edited, massaged and focus group tested to death in order to avoid offending anybody who isn't actually a progressive Democratic voter (they don't give a rats ass about us).

And god forbid that you should ever complain. They never forget and they never forgive.

[Maedhros]

32. It'll go something like this:

You gather a group of middle-aged, middle-class, middle-income voters who remember with longing an easier time, and you talk to them about family and American values and character.

- President Andrew Shepard, The American President (1995)

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

30. Maybe she'll add puppies to her platitudes. Anyone for Mom and Apple Pie?

[procon]

33. She's what... 3 days into a 19 month long campaign?

She's a smart woman. She planned a specific rollout that left the opposition with NOTHING to latch on to, and that's why everyone is furiously gnawing on old bones and trash talking about shiny stuff... and looking either foolish or terrified for all their efforts.

Any poker player will tell you that nothing is gained by showing your hand at the start, because you want to force your opponent to blow his wad and drop put. if I were a politician like Hillary, like any good showman, I would begin the same way, tantalizing the press and my foes by tossing out tidbits to drive them mad with anticipation.

Yes, I would stretch out every little revelation of my policies in order create interest and capitalise on a conflict oriented press corps that thrives on speculation. I would use teasers to slowly build a platform because that allows time to make adjustments as needed on the fly. That style of pacing lets the press cover her speeches and do in depth explanations as each new bullet point is revealed. This will also allow her to frequently snatch the wind from the GOP camp and divert broadcast news time to covering each new policy she divulges.

[yallerdawg]

35. She identified 4 legs of her campaign platform yesterday in Iowa.

She posted on social media.

Mainstream media doesn't like that. So, they didn't tell you her policy proposals.

"We need to build the economy of tomorrow, not yesterday," she said, as a handpicked audience of 20 and about 60 reporters looked on. "We need to strengthen families and communities because that's where it all starts.

"And we need to fix the dysfunctional political system and get unaccountable money out of it once and for all, even if that takes a constitutional amendment," she said. "And we need to protect our country from threats that we see and the ones that are on the horizon. So I'm here in Iowa to begin a conversation about how we do that."

Hillary is posting a lot on her twitter account.

Be informed. If your interested: https://twitter.com/hillaryclinton

[onethatcares]

43. not tossing rocks but,

I think I've heard the same shit from every presidential candidate for the past 40 years.

Then they turn around and take as much corporate money as they possibly can, start wars, and kick the working poor in the teeth.

Or maybe I have amnesia or sumpin.

but for gauds sake the climb up the side of crap mountain is getting harder every day.

[yallerdawg]

44. Democrats and Republicans are not the same.

If they were, I wouldn't be responding to your comment. I wouldn't give a shit - like most people.

And you wouldn't be here, either!

You want to see a crap mountain? Let's figure out a way to give all 3 branches of the Federal government to the conservatives.

The presidency may be our last, best hope to change the road we are on.

[Sancho]

37. Likely, it wouldn't matter to you how or what Hillary said at this point...

^P^A^T^I^E^N^C^E

There will be a platform, a plan, debates, and discussions.

This is a primary. Popularity rules over substance. Hillary will be as clear as Obama was (and likely as true to her promises). Some good, some bad.

I will vote for the democratic candidate. I hope you do too.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

46. but...but...but you me say TPP in a tweet isn't enough

I gave her 0-2 on what MSM has spent a lot of time crediting her for this week: TPP and campaign finance amendment. Politics as usual.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026527724