Posted on 08/05/2007 1:20:03 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
CHICAGO - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is running for president on her husband's White House record, and it's a strategy that cuts both ways.
The New York senator and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, constantly remind voters of the nation's economic prosperity in the 1990s and his record on the environment, college aid and family medial leave. Press releases from the campaign often include sentences that start , "Under the Clinton administration ..."
"Yesterday's news was pretty good," Bill Clinton said last month in Iowa while campaigning with his wife.
But yesterdays' news isn't always easy to explain today.
A San Francisco blogger made that painfully clear to Sen. Clinton during the Yearly Kos Convention, when he asked whether she would support or repeal four major pieces of legislation enacted during the Clinton administration — the Defense of Marriage Act, the Telecommunications Act, the North American Free Trade Agreement and welfare reform.
All four laws are unpopular with liberal voters who historically dominate Democratic primaries and caucuses. The political landscape for Democrats has changed since the 1990s on issues such as gay rights, trade and welfare reform — due in part to the rise of the influential and polarizing liberal blogosphere. That means candidates like Clinton must shift, too, or defend their refusal to do so.
The San Francisco man had put Clinton on the spot.
So she hedged and dodged in a complicated set of answers to explain herself.
The Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal recognition of same-sex marriages and gave states the right to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages, "served a very important purpose," she told the blogger. The law staved off Republican efforts to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban gay marriage, Clinton said, an argument that seems to consign her husband's support of the law to the "necessary evil" category.
It also assumes the voters will buy the assumption that Republicans had the political might to change the Constitution, a Herculean task.
Clinton said she would favor repeal of a provision of the act that theoretically could endanger the federal benefits of gay couples.
The Telecommunications Act is unpopular with Democratic bloggers and other liberals who believe the law has led to rampant media consolidation. The topic received widespread discussion at the Kos convention, which wrapped up Sunday, in light of Ruppert Murdoch's purchase of The Wall Street Journal.
Murdoch's massive global media and entertainment empire includes Fox broadcast network, which is vilified by liberal bloggers.
Clinton dodged the issue
"You'd have to ask Al Gore," she told the blogger, referring to the former vice president who spearheaded the Clinton administration's telecommunications policies. "Al was very involved in designing and pushing that through."
It wasn't lost on Clinton's crowd that Gore has not ruled out a presidential run in 2008. She had just passed he buck to a potential rival.
It is rare to hear Clinton, one of the field's most polished candidates, admit ignorance on a policy issue. But doing so came in handy as she fobbed off the question on Gore.
"He's an expert," she said. "I'm not."
The North American Free Trade Agreement lowered economic barriers between the United States, Canada and Mexico, but many voters believe it has cost the nation more jobs than it has produced. It's a constant source of tension for Clinton on the campaign trail.
While she won't commit to repealing NAFTA as some other Democrats do, Clinton puts some distance between herself and her husband by saying one of the cornerstone's of his presidency "did not realize the benefits it ... promised."
His decision to sign the 1996 welfare reform law angered many of his advisers, including some from his wife's political circle. But he felt enormous political pressure to sign the Republican-backed legislation or be branded a liberal in the run-up to his re-election campaign.
Sen. Clinton did not disavow the welfare legislation, but she didn't exactly embrace it, either.
"The positives," she told the blogger, "far outweigh the negatives."
She hopes the same can be said about the strategy to run on her husband's record.
He wears the blue dress next time they take an inaugural photo.
economic prosperity in the 1990s ????..compared to? 1933? 2007? It wasn’t as good as now. (exception may be that we may have lost a bundle on real estate the past year or so.)
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
economic prosperity in the 1990s ????..compared to? 1933? 2007? It wasn’t as good as now. (exception may be that we may have lost a bundle on real estate the past year or so.) Not to worry, they’ll make it worse if elected.
Has there traditionally been a lot of illicit sex in the First Lady’s WH Office?
On loan from Monica, no doubt.
If I remember correctly, the 1990s didn’t do so well in the stock market. Recent retirees from the university where I worked lost a BUNCH of money (between $30 and 50 thousand, if I recall correctly) on their TIAA-CREF account. I wouldn’t say that was so great.
“The positives,” she told the blogger, “far outweigh the negatives.”
Does she just memorize platitudes before all her “Q&A” sessions??!
True, but these two have been planning this a long time. Some woman, some day, will be elected president and they figuered it might as well be her.
As they both ascended the ladder (with her pushing his fat @ss) neither expected the Monica slip-up that set them back a few rungs. Whether he's capable of slinging her fat butt to the top remains to be seen.
If not for BILL CLINTON, Hillary would be just another man hating liberal. I guess that's what the thought of being powerful did to her 'principles'.
One blue dress has already gotten slick in hot water. In any case, we can't let that happen.
“As they both ascended the ladder (with her pushing his fat @ss) neither expected the Monica slip-up that set them back a few rungs. Whether he’s capable of slinging her fat butt to the top remains to be seen.”
I could not have said it better. LOL
Baloney. The problem is that the Beast is not quick on her feet. She had problems facing a crowd of fellow travelers, the true believers and thus will never appear on Fox or before an unprepped or at least sympathetic crowd.
The MSManipulatechurian Candidate
She is much more about deception than perception when it comes to certain issues. Her legends fend for her.
Imagine being in a room with these two after she loses the election. Let’s just say, it would have to be rated PG21.
If you see her lips moving she lying, if you don’t see her lips moving she’s thinking of lying
You know, it is a good time to remember just who and what Hillary is...a TOTAL BIGOT. Reliable Secret Service accounts tell us that during pyschotic fits/fights between her and Bubba, HClinton called him a, “n!gg@r and a Jew” and several colorful aspersions to go with those designations. That is who this woman is, she is a “HATER”.
If we forget who she is, then she has a chance. Paging MiaT., Paging MiaT.!
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