10 common objections to Hillary Clinton - and how to counter them [View all]

[auntpurl]

I'll start out by saying that the arguments I'm about to make are not for use with people who simply believe Hillary is a liar, untrustworthy, or Satan. These arguments are for people who have an incomplete or misinformed understanding of her policies and might be swayed by a more thorough and accurate understanding.

(Some of this was copied and modified from an in-thread post I made yesterday. Please do feel free to add common objections and your counter-arguments.)

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1. Fracking: Hillary is not in FAVOR of fracking. If the choices are foreign oil, coal, and fracking AT THE MOMENT, she chooses fracking as the least damaging option - as a stop-gap solution to keep people heating their homes and getting to work. She also has environmental limits on where fracking should be pursued. At the same time, she has a comprehensive plan to build a renewable energy infrastructure and create thousands of jobs in the process: https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/climate/

2. Foreign policy/"warmongering": Hillary enacted President Obama's policies as SOS. She has promised to use diplomacy up and until it is no longer a viable approach. Whether you believe her comes down to character, but in terms of her stated positions, she is no warmonger. https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/national-security/

3. Opposition to Glass-Steagall: Hillary has a comprehensive plan to eliminate the banks' ability to take dangerous risks and weaken the economy. https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/wall-street/

4. Super PACs: Hillary is in favour of comprehensive campaign finance reform. We need a majority in Congress to get this passed (not to mention a Democratic president to appoint SC judges who will overturn Citizens United - which Hillary has promised is a litmus test for her when choosing candidates) - and I am extremely opposed to our Democratic candidates playing a game of chicken and being the first to stop taking big money BEFORE everyone else has to stop too. We need to get into office before we can make these changes. https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/campaign-finance-reform/

5. Speeches to Wall Street: Hillary was a private citizen, many former politicians make speeches for big money (in addition to loads of other kinds of celebrities), and there has never been any proof of quid pro quo. Also, the speeches to big banks/Wall Street were only a small portion of the total number and dollar amount of speeches she gave.

6. Opposition to healthcare for all: Hillary supports expanding and improving the ACA. Removing it entirely and hoping to get something even more left-wing passed is not reasonable in our political climate. https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/health-care/

7. Opposition to free tuition: Hillary has added debt-free college to her platform: https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/college/

8. Iraq war vote: Hillary has apologised for her vote without qualification. http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/hillary-clinton-iraq-war-vote-mistake-iowa-118109 She was lied to, but she says plainly that she got it wrong. It comes down to whether someone can be forgiven for getting something that monumental wrong. For me, I can forgive a mistake like that, because lots of other intelligent, thoughtful people made the same mistake, fell for the same lies, and GWB absolutely DID abuse the limited authority given to him by that vote. The mess in Iraq can be laid at the feet of GWB. But everyone needs to take responsibility for their part in it, and I believe Hillary has.

9. Protecting social security: Hillary has promised to oppose any attempts to privatise or weaken SS or Medicare. https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/social-security-and-medicare/

10. Minimum wage: Hillary is in favor of a $12 an hour federal minimum wage, and state and local efforts to raise in to $15 when appropriate. This is a compromise approach that won't cripple small businesses in less-wealthy areas while still supporting big cities to pay their workers a living wage. https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/labor/

Hillary also has comprehensive progressive policies regarding:

Addiction/substance abuse https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/addiction/
Disability rights: https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/disability-rights/
Immigration reform: https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/immigration-reform/
Paid family and medical leave: https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/paid-leave/

among many others, on her website. I encourage you to read it - the plans are really well thought-out, paid for, and realistic in our political climate.

I hope this is helpful, and please add your own thoughts.