Robert Scheer on Hillary Clinton (he's not a fan)

[panfluteman]

11. This Is What You Get

until you get big money out of politics. Citizens United put it on steroids, but there was too much corporate money in politics even in the Clinton era, with the result that Bill Clinton passed NAFTA and repealed Glass-Steagall, and made other corporate giveaways. And Hillary is basically in the same camp, and is a darling of Wall Street and the big banks - and post Citizens United, the political facts of life say that she will do Wall Street and the corporations even more and bigger favors than Bill.

Looking back on the election of 2000, the ironic fact that Nader's candidacy wound up bringing very un-green, un-populist results in the stolen election of George W. Bush is just symptomatic of how sick our political system was even back then. What true populist progressives dream of for this upcoming election is for real populist progressives like Bernie Sanders and/or Elizabeth Warren to run - or maybe the two combined into a real dream ticket. But without a whole lot of grass roots mobilization of the people, and probably in ways that bypass the corporate sponsored mainstream media - they could wind up having the same ironic, antithetical effect that Nader had in 2000 - if they have any effect at all.

I'm not saying that Hillary will be totally worthless as a candidate, or as President, I'm not that cynical - she will probably do a lot of good stuff, just like Bill and Barack - and lord knows, we could use the feminine touch, which may be, in many ways, kinder and gentler than the usual male politician. Hillary shines in many ways. But will she really change the whole gestalt of the political situation, as it so desperately needs to be changed, to restore more power to the people, to give them a bigger voice in our democracy? My sister was telling me she had the dream that Hillary might just surprise the guys on Wall Street by going FDR on them - I told her that that was REALLY a pipe dream - until we reverse Citizens United, get corporate money out of politics, and give constitutional protections to the right to vote, we will continue to get political candidates who, in one way or another, leave a whole lot to be desired.