2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumNYT: Hillary Clinton, 1 of most broadly & deeply qualified presidential candidates in modern history
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/opinion/sunday/hillary-clinton-endorsement.htmlFor the past painful year, the Republican presidential contenders have been bombarding Americans with empty propaganda slogans and competing, bizarrely, to present themselves as the least experienced person for the most important elected job in the world. Democratic primary voters, on the other hand, after a substantive debate over real issues, have the chance to nominate one of the most broadly and deeply qualified presidential candidates in modern history.
Hillary Clinton would be the first woman nominated by a major party. She served as a senator from a major state (New York) and as secretary of state not to mention her experience on the national stage as first lady with her brilliant and flawed husband, President Bill Clinton. The Times editorial board has endorsed her three times for federal office twice for Senate and once in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary and is doing so again with confidence and enthusiasm.
Mrs. Clintons main opponent, Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-described Democratic Socialist, has proved to be more formidable than most people, including Mrs. Clinton, anticipated. He has brought income inequality and the lingering pain of the middle class to center stage and pushed Mrs. Clinton a bit more to the left than she might have gone on economic issues. Mr. Sanders has also surfaced important foreign policy questions, including the need for greater restraint in the use of military force.
In the end, though, Mr. Sanders does not have the breadth of experience or policy ideas that Mrs. Clinton offers. His boldest proposals to break up the banks and to start all over on health care reform with a Medicare-for-all system have earned him support among alienated middle-class voters and young people. But his plans for achieving them arent realistic, while Mrs. Clinton has very good, and achievable, proposals in both areas.
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Hillary Clinton is the right choice for the Democrats to present a vision for America that is radically different from the one that leading Republican candidates offer a vision in which middle-class Americans have a real shot at prosperity, womens rights are enhanced, undocumented immigrants are given a chance at legitimacy, international alliances are nurtured and the country is kept safe.
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NYT endorses Clinton. Now comes the scorn from GOPers and Bernie Sanders supporters!!
jfern
(5,204 posts)Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)nichomachus
(12,754 posts)Logical
(22,457 posts)Punkingal
(9,522 posts)kristopher
(29,798 posts)And Hillary has demonstrated that she lacks it.
bunnies
(15,859 posts)Weird.
murielm99
(30,733 posts)I thought they were under the already.
These Bernistas need to get their hate, uh act, together.
bunnies
(15,859 posts)nt
arely staircase
(12,482 posts)Go HRC!
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)No one has the experience of being President except the President, and former Presidents. But experience is meaningless without judgment and the ability to learn from experience. If a person promotes a policy that has failed, and the same person continues to promote the same failed policy, I would question that person's judgment.
murielm99
(30,733 posts)Like harping on economic justice, no matter what the topic is? Like taking advantage of a computer glitch to steal someone else's data? Like impostors posing as union members? Like rude berniebros swarming and trying to intimidate anyone who does not support their candidate?
What has he learned from experience there?
What have we learned from this? I have learned that Bernie, whom I liked at one time, is running a very dirty campaign, even if some of it is being run by proxy. You can have him. Neither I, nor most of the country, want him.
frylock
(34,825 posts)Sheez
rocktivity
(44,575 posts)rocktivity
SamKnause
(13,091 posts)Poor judgment; Iraq and Libya
Pro cluster bombs
Pro sanctions that kill children
Pro no fly zone over Syria
Pushing for an attack on Iran
Hillary has very poor judgment.
Hillary's vision is dangerous and deadly.
Thanks, but no thanks.
pangaia
(24,324 posts)And....?
She moved here, yes HERE, to prepare to run for president. Don't give me that 'served' gobbledeegook.
THAT is the problem, her 'experience on a fucking stage." It is NOT a stage!!
Where did you guys hear THAT phrase? Do you call Hillary a self-described Capitalist? No!!!
If she didn't see that coming, then....?"
WHAT? Have you been sleeping under a bridge for the past 30 tears?
Shit, I can't continue with this bullshit..
What back room hack wrote this?
Sounds like the Washington Times.
EndElectoral
(4,213 posts)frylock
(34,825 posts)That other stuff? Not so much.
Logical
(22,457 posts)DCBob
(24,689 posts)Here is Hillary's resume.
- Graduate of Yale Law School, where she was one of just 27 women in her graduating class.
- Young lawyer for the Childrens Defense Fund where she worked to help enact legislation to help children with disabilities in Massachusetts.
- Lawyer for the Congressional Committee investigating President Nixon.
- First Lady of Arkansas where she worked to improve educational standards and health care access for the people of Arkansas.
- First Lady of United States during where she worked to reform our health care system and helped create the Children's Health Insurance Program. Here is where she learned what Republicans are capable of doing when faced with a strong intelligent aggressive woman.
- U.S. Senator for New York, probably the most diverse, complex and important state in the country.. economically, financially, politically, and diplomatically. While Senator she worked to secure funding to rebuild New York after 9/11 and fought to provide health care for first responders who were contaminated at Ground Zero. Also helped to expanded TRICARE so that members of the Reserves and National Guard and their families could get better access to health care.
- Ran for President in 2008 where she learned the hard way what it takes to win.
- Served as Secretary of State for 4 years. She was instrumental in starting to restore Americas standing in the world. She helped build a coalition for tough new sanctions against Iran that brought them to the negotiating table and brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that ended a war. She also was a forceful champion for human rights, internet freedom, and rights and opportunities for women and girls, LGBT people and young people all around the globe.
No doubt one of the most experienced and prepared candidate for the Office of President.
earthside
(6,960 posts)The Newspaper of War
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/05/13/newspaper-war
Birds of a feather ...
JRLeft
(7,010 posts)oasis
(49,376 posts)NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)oasis
(49,376 posts)Armstead
(47,803 posts)Christ, the Democratic Vision has shrunk to the size of a walnut.
I don't think I've experienced a time when the Democratic Party Establishm,ent and its enablers has been this timid, lazy and lacking in backbone....And that's saying something.
We have a chance to swing the pendulum, but you want to help the GOP keep pushing keep it to the right in the name of "pragmatism."
Fuck those liberals. Screw those progressives. Do Nothing Centrism All the Way!
redstateblues
(10,565 posts)I want to keep building on what he has started. Please stop the "helping the Republicans" bullshit insult meme. I'm a lifelong Democrat who votes in the midterms and supports our candidates with my time and money. You guys trash a great progressive like Sherrod Brown because he is not pure enough for you. If Bernie wins the nomination you will need all the Democrats like me even if we are not pure enough for you. Continued insults and name calling will not help your cause.
Armstead
(47,803 posts)But Obama has not moved the needle overall. The ASCA is basically a GOP form of healthcare that further embeds private insurance. Any form of social insurance was left out. The TPP and the similar agreement with Europe (whose inituials I forget at the moment) are abominations if you want to support the rebuilding of the domestic economy, and civil government over the dictates of Global Corporate capital.
Brown is NOT representative of the Democratic leadership. He has been odd man out with the administration and the centrist Democrats for a long time. He has done his best to work with them, but on many issues he has had to battle Obama, Clinton and the otehr Centrists. Why he has chosen to support Clinton, I don't know. Probably because he is being a loyal Democrat and believes she has the best chance to win. But HE IS NOT the type of Democrat I am referring to.
Pure? Bullshit. I'll settle for being met halfway. What many of us are tired of is seeing the Democrats pulling in the opposite direction on core issues, like free trade, deregulation, privatization.....and echoing the deficit hawk stance of the GOP.
redstateblues
(10,565 posts)How can you say that he hasn't done a good job? Tell that to all the people who have health insurance that didn't have it before- my daughter. For one. Granted it's not totally there yet but it is worth building on. Do you not remember the economy he was handed by the disastrous Bush presidency - granted its not where it should be but its way better. It's like people have political amnesia.
What frustrates me is that I hear no strategy for building the party to take back Congress and the State Houses. Bernie will need that to get anything done yet he has not lifted a finger to use his popularity to raise money for down ballot Dems. No plan to address voter suppression. If those two things are not accomplished I don't care who the President is. Slogans and the bully pulpit do not make a revolution. Bernie has done nothing to form alliances during his time in the Senate. I'm a great admirer of Jimmy Carter, the man. He was my first bumper sticker. Bernies approach reminds me of Carter- Carter was a total outsider- which I liked. Unfortunately he accomplished very little because of that. He never had any Congressional coalitions and let's not forget- this is politics. The leaders that are good at politics get things done. That might appear seemly to causal observers but it's the reality and probably the reason you gave for Sherrod Brown supporting HRC. Thanks for indulging me. I appreciate your tone. If Bernie wins the nomination you will need Democrats like me even if you don't like me!
Armstead
(47,803 posts)And the system is still a nightmare for far too many people. Coverage is rising in cost, too many people still fall through the complicated cracks, and Big Insurance is getting bigger and more powerful and more of a monopoly.
As for the economy, that was an opportunity to actually press to begin to ursurp the lopsided structure of power and wealth in this country -- and start to restore a more balanced and broadly based system. Instead we have reinforced it, with a few tweaks around the edges.
I agree with you about the need about strategy at the lower levels? But to be perfectly honest, this campaign has revealed a total lack of support within the Democratic power structure for grass roots reformist liberal politics.
I will grant that many people do not see Bernie as the ideal candidate. That is a totally legitimate opinion, and fodder for a competitive campaign.
But why does that have to entail trashing the idea of liberal goals and aspirations -- and why concede defeat to the GOP from the start (yet again). "That's a good idea, but we can never do that. It's too hard."
How is a message like that supposed to excite voters and reenergize the Democratic Party? That is a surefire formula to convince people to either go for the party that actually sells something-- the GOP -- or to avoid the whole thing and give in to apathy and "they're all the same" cynicism.
(P.S. I like you fine. But I get passionate about this stuff....and carried way sometimes )
redstateblues
(10,565 posts)but if you will- considering the Senate and House will probably stay about the same- possible realignment of the Senate- How would it play out politically to pass Single Payer in President Bernie's first two years. Let's be realistic(maybe there's a better word) the House is not going to be in play until the lines are redrawn when the next census is in.2020 I think. I want to believe. I really do-I want to hear the strategy. For example, the much maligned Claire McCaskill-female Democratic Senator from a blood red Conservative state like Missouri -someone I'm sure you would be happy to see gone- she is someone a President Sanders would NEED even if detested her and she only was with him 75% of the time- I live in a state in which the electorate is very similar to MO-I know you probably say you don't want someone like her in our party but in reality you will get a Democrat like her or you will get a Tea Party type in that state-the closest we got to a Democrat in the Senate was the centrist Harold Ford-not a progressives dream. I would like to believe my state TN would elect a progressive Senator but there is no one on the horizon.TN just returned an anti abortion congressman who was cheating on his wife and talked his mistress into getting an abpotion! The idea of a US Senate with 60 Progressives is possible-probably not in my lifetime and certainly not in the next four years. I'm sure you detest incremental change. I want you to show me the plan. I will take incremental change over total futility. Bernie is all or nothing. Show me politically how the "all" is realized.
Change does not happen by accident. It's great to be a visionary but if there is no David Axlerod to come up with the logistics it will not be realized. I want you to know I have great respect for your beliefs. My whole career I have been a point A to point B guy. That's where I am.
cali
(114,904 posts)democrank
(11,092 posts)I`m going with the good judgement guy.
Thanks for shining the light.
NowSam
(1,252 posts)If you love things the way they are with all the money going to the top and endless wars then she is the candidate for you.
Rosa Luxemburg
(28,627 posts)leveymg
(36,418 posts)history. But, we like she, were both deeply wtong about Iraq, and despite the loss of credibility, we're both still somehow still in business.
amborin
(16,631 posts)represents elites;
juxtaposed
(2,778 posts)SidDithers
(44,228 posts)Sid