Hillary May Have Just LOST This Campaign [View all]

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from DailyKos:


Hillary the Inevitable looks like a Goliath right now, but the most crucial moment of the 2016 Democratic primary may have happened already. Kos and others who support her cite her obvious assets--name recognition, her husband, her organization, and her vast financial resources--and conclude that she is the most powerful candidate to advance to the general election. They admit that she is a machine, for the most part--a concocted political presence who has endured, has a loyal core constituency, and dominates a comfortable pocket of the political spectrum that has been a proven winner in recent presidential elections--the moderate liberal who is progressive on social issues, not so much in military and economic matters. If you count Gore's stolen victory, it's won five of the last six contests--and none of those candidates had the cumulative strength of Hillary Clinton's current campaign. But most every one of her supporters will acknowledge that Hillary's political juggernaut is compromised by a single weakness: the sincerity of her progressive credentials, and just where her loyalties lie. That is a question that has dogged her and her husband for many years, and a question that has expanded in its significance now that economic injustice has emerged as the single greatest issue of our day. It is the single question that has compromised her popularity here on Daily Kos, and dominates arguments between her supporters and detractors. Hillary's advocates counter this argument by citing her inevitability, citing Bernie's age and other allegedly disqualifying factors, and making ridiculous claims that he's going to ignore issues like immigration reform, police violence, etc. just because he hasn't made them his focus. I've got news for you, guys--economic injustice is the biggest issue today for every American citizen, whether they realize it or not. Bernie is staying on this message because that's what disciplined politicians do, and because it's the biggest issue that differentiates him from Hillary. Hillary supporters are maintaining that she will win because she is the Greatest Machine Ever, even though she is weaker than Bernie on the biggest issue of our day: America's economic future and the survival of the middle class. And you hardly ever hear one of her supporters say that her economic policies are superior to Bernie's--they counter by maintaining instead that his policies are unrealistic, unattainable, or relatively unimportant.



Hillary knows this issue is a problem for her, or she wouldn't have made it a punch line/centerpiece of her campaign video announcement. After watching the video even I felt hopeful that maybe Hillary the Machine had decided that she needed to go left on economic issues after all, corporate donors be damned. And of course she followed that with bold policy statements regarding immigration, police violence, and immigration, which were certainly encouraging since I have at times felt that her election seemed inevitable. But I and many other Sanders supporters were skeptical about exactly to what lengths she would go to save the middle class. Her message on economic insecurity conveyed acknowledgment of the problem, but almost nothing in the way of specific policy proposals--in stark opposition to Bernie's laundry list of economic interventions. It smacks of lip service in the absence of conviction, the kind that's familiar to political junkies of all stripes--the empty campaign promises that can be nominally fulfilled after election victory by half-hearted, limited measures with minimal political consequence. She was trying to deprive Bernie of sole possession of this issue, but certainly not trying to own it. However, hopeful Hillaryites could still comfort themselves with the idea that she will pursue the issue with more detail and conviction when she's in office--understanding that Hillary can't afford to alienate her contributors now, but holding the belief that underneath it all Hillary has their best interests at heart. Even I tried to maintain this "run to the middle, govern to the left" fantasy back when Hillary seemed even more inevitable than she does now (i.e., before Bernie stole my heart and vote.) But now that TPP's come to vote before Congress, that idea is all shot to hell-- and Bernie now has possession of a political weapon for which Hillary has no credible defense.



As we all know now, TPP is a very large trade agreement that is coming along at a very vulnerable time for our nation. We have a government that is divided, discredited, and weak--and yet it is the only counterbalance we as a people have to the will of an entrenched, self-interested economic elite that seemingly has no limits to its lust for wealth and power. A huge proportion of Americans are facing diminishing options for economic success, and an increasingly insecure future. Hope is in very short supply. So along comes this bill that is so onerous and counterproductive that another bill (TAA) has to be passed for alleged compensation to American workers--as if American workers WANTED compensation instead of jobs!!!! Not only that, it includes bizarre regulatory mechanisms that, in the minds of myself and many others, appear to be a sort of corporate world government aimed at undermining the ability of sovereign nations to regulate their own economies. AND the text of the bill was secret!!! AND The Powers That Be wanted to "FAST-TRACK" it!!!!!!!! Those of us who want the economic priorities of this nation changed probably share my desire for a top-to-bottom overhaul of the tax code, trade regulation, management of economic resources, etc.--i.e., a comprehensive plan to change things for the better. Such an undertaking would entail extensive study of the problems that exist, and a thoughtful review of proposals that might solve those problems that takes into account all the potential negatives of each proposal--not just a bunch of willy-nilly actions without aforethought. The first step in such a mission is to avoid doing something stupid and counterproductive--such as passing a huge, highly questionable trade bill with unpredictable consequences, obvious negatives, unknown content--and especially doing so in a hurry because the bad guys say so!!!!


Hillary Clinton had every opportunity to express such concerns about TPP, and did nothing besides awkwardly sitting on the fence. If she was even a "moderate liberal" on this issue, couldn't she express concerns about "fast-tracking" the process, calling for delay of this legislation until more extensive study of the legislation could occur with open public scrutiny? The majority of Democrats in both the Senate and House opposed this legislation. By sitting on her hands, she positioned herself firmly in the right wing of her party on trade issues, on the same side of the corporate oligarchy we are trying to usurp. Sure, the vote went down, and the TPP is now on hold. But we didn't know for sure that was going to happen, and besides the issue still lives to see another day. Maybe Hillary will reexamine the political calculus and adjust her stance, and join the majority of her party in opposition to the treaty. But when push came to shove this past week, Hillary made it crystal clear--she cannot be relied upon to place the interests of the common American above those of her corporate sponsors. We here at Daily Kos can still debate who is most capable of defeating the Republicans in November 2016--but when it comes to the pivotal issue of economic injustice, Hillary has now revealed herself to be all talk, no walk. In the weeks to come, you can bet that Bernie's going to address the other issues of the day that concern all of us here, such as immigration reform, voting reform, #BlackLivesMatter--and on every one of them he will be comfortably progressive, because, let's face it, NOBODY is more progressive than Bernie Sanders is. But Hillary will never be able to walk back this past week, and IMO unable to establish any credibility on the biggest issue of today--which happens to be Bernie's home turf!!! And just because Bernie has been playing nice with Hillary so far, don't expect him to refrain from calling her out on this point. It will be replayed again and again, and Hillary will be damned if she does, damned if she don't--forced to rationalize her indecision, attempting to explain why she didn't have enough fear of the consequences TPP to slow down the process, to argue for transparency, or do anything else. Her passivity was acceptance. And neither passivity, nor acceptance, appear to me to be defensible in this primary campaign.





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http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/06/13/1392968/-Hillary-may-have-just-lost-this-campaign