2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumDemocracy Now: War on Wall Street or Wall Street's Wars?
VIDEO: http://www.democracynow.org/2016/2/12/war_on_wall_street_or_wall
TRANSCRIPT
AMY GOODMAN: In the first Democratic debate since Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders decisive victory over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Tuesdays New Hampshire primary, the two candidates faced off in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Sanders and Clinton drew sharp distinctions between them on everything from foreign policy to how they plan to pay for the programs theyve proposed, to campaign finance reform.
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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: Secretary Clintons super PAC, as I understand it, received $25 million last reporting period, $15 million from Wall Street. Our average contribution is $27. Im very proud of that.
HILLARY CLINTON: I would just say, I debated then-Senator Obama numerous times on stages like this, and he was the recipient of the largest number of Wall Street donations of anybody running on the Democratic side ever. Now, when it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street. He pushed through and he passed the Dodd-Frank regulation, the toughest regulations since the 1930s. So, lets not in any way imply here that either President Obama or myself would in any way not take on any vested interest, whether its Wall Street or drug companies or insurance companies or, frankly, the gun lobby, to stand up to do whats best for the American people.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: OK, lets notbut lets notlets not insultlets not insult the intelligence of the American people. People arent dumb. Why in Gods name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess, just for the fun of it. They want to throw money around. Why does the pharmaceutical industry make huge campaign contributions? Any connection maybe to the fact that our people pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs? Why does the fossil fuel industry payspend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions? Any connection to the fact that not one Republican candidate for president thinks and agrees with the scientific community that climate change is real and that we have got to transform our energy system?
And when we talk about Wall Street, lets talk about Wall Street. I voted for Dodd-Frank, got an important amendment in it. My view, it doesnt go anywhere near far enough. But when we talk about Wall Street, you have: Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash; no Wall Street executive has been prosecuted.
AMY GOODMAN: For more on Thursdays debate and the overall Democratic race, were joined by two guests. Joining us from Capitol Hill, New York Congressman Gregory Meeks, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus political action committee, which has just endorsed Hillary Clinton. And here in New York, Jeffrey Sachs is with us, leading economist, director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, author of many books, most recently, The Age of Sustainable Development. His recent article for The Huffington Post is headlined "Hillary is the Candidate of the War Machine."
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We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Congressman Meeks, lets begin with you. Can you talk about the significance of the endorsement of the Congressional Black Caucuss political action committee?
REP. GREGORY MEEKS: Well, it isas we believe the campaign is now really starting, as we move into states that are more reflective of America, it is important and significant that weve had two senators. I mean, when she was a senator here in the United States Senate, Bernie, who had worked withboth on the House and on the Senate side, who has been a partner for, particularly, Democrats in getting Democrats elected, so that we could have majorities in the House and in the Senate, because whoever is the presidentyou know, President Obama has substantial obstacles because no longer, after the first two years, did he have any Democrats. The person that has been a partner to get Democrats elected to the House and to the Senate, the person who has worked to make sure that there is a difference in the country and has partnered with the CBC PAC has been Hillary Clinton. And we think that its important to get that message out, so that individuals know what has taken place. And that is why we endorsed Senator Clinton yesterday, or Secretary Clinton.
AMY GOODMAN: Youre very critical, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, of Hillary Clinton. You saythe headline of your Huffington Post piece, "Hillary is the Candidate of the War Machine." Your response?
JEFFREY SACHS: I think last nights debate was really a terrific debate, because it did clarify many different things. It also confused a few things, when Hillary Clinton, for example, said that she negotiated the 2012 ceasefire. There was no ceasefire in Syria. She was the reason why the ceasefire never took place then, because she has backed a CIA-led attempt at regime change that has led to a bloodbath there. Thats what I wrote about a few days ago.
And also, on the domestic side, she basically said, "I will change nothing." And that, I think, is really sobering for those of us who believe in a progressive agenda. She said, "Dont dream. We cant do it. Dont go with this guy. He cant make these changes." And thats very sad, actually, to just be campaigning on the grounds, "No, we cant." I think the fact of the matter is, we could accomplish a great deal. And shes basically saying that the status quo is just fine.
When she said that the bankers were stillhad no influence in the Obama administration, its an amazing statement, because after all this big campaign support from Wall Street, President Obama put in bankers and strong Wall Street supporters into the White House. And I remember in 2009and I could go chapter and versethat they absolutely treated the banks with kid gloves. And thats why not one executive not only didnt go to jail, didnt even resign, after their banks paid tens, even up to $200 billion of fines. This was an administration that did not go after Wall Street. And this has been the problem of the Democratic Party for 20 years, since President Clinton brought Wall Street into the Democratic Party.
AMY GOODMAN: Congressman Meeks, can you respond?
REP. GREGORY MEEKS: Absolutely. Again, you, you know, forget aboutthis country was on the brink of default when President Obama came in. And if you look at where we are today compared to where we were in 2008 when he took over, we are substantially better than we were.
And Senator Clinton is not a one-party thing. When you listen to Mr. Leeds [sic] and you listen to Senator Sanders, its as if, get rid of Wall Street, and all of the problems of the world will be gone. Well, theres still racism. Theres still a number of things that are being worked on, that this president has been working on. If you listen to presidentif you listen to Mr. Leeds [sic] and if you listen to Mr. Sanders, he will be better on race relations than Barack Obama, better on women issues than Hillary Clinton, better on humanitarian issues than Ted Kennedy. He is the only one and the only issue. I mean, theres no one better than he. He can do it all. That is a dream. And that dream is not reality.
In order to get things done in the United States Congress, youand in Washington, you have to have a Congress thats willing to work with a president. There has to be compromise. There is no absolute, because you have different people with different viewpoints from different parts of the country and, yes, even different parties. And so, the question that often comes is: Do you get done something that you can accomplish, or do you leave the status quo and do nothing?
And so, I think that when you look at, whether its healthcare, whether its Dodd-Frank, whether its equal day for equal pay for women, whether you look at all of those progresses that was done under the Obama administration, that will be continued and improved upon about the Clinton administration, but nothing changes overnight. That is a dream. And if youre running on just a dream and not how you can do something in reality, then I think thats misleading the American people.
AMY GOODMAN: Professor Sachs?
JEFFREY SACHS: Well, Congressman, we agree on probably just about everything, in practice, except for the idea that the status quo is where we want to be right now. And when Hillary Clinton says, "Oh, the total cost of my plan is $100 billion," people should understand that we have nearly a $20 trillion economy. Shes basically saying, "Im not going to change anything."
When we talk about foreign policy, we have a spreading war, and she has been a leading agent of that spread of war, from Iraq to Libya to Syria. This is CIA-led regime change that has led to chaos. And we need a different foreign policy. And thats why its extremely important that people understand what the underlying roots of this problem is. It is the military-industrial complex, and she has supported it all along.
She has supported Wall Street all along. Shes surrounded by bankers and bankers friends. Larry Summers back in the White House? No, thank you, not in my book, because in 2009 he absolutely made sure that the bankers got their bonuses. I was on the phone with him, saying, "Are you kidding? These bankers made all these abuses." He said, "Oh, it was very important we let them have their bonuses. Thats the rule of law," he said. This is ridiculous. Its time actually
REP. GREGORY MEEKS: Let me say
JEFFREY SACHS: to go up against these vested interests.
AMY GOODMAN: Congressman Meeks?
REP. GREGORY MEEKS: Look, absolutely, when you look at the Obama administration, talking about foreign policy, he fundamentally, with Hillary Clinton as the secretary of state, changed our foreign policy. If you look at what we were doing prior, under the Bush administration, when it was a go-alone, no allies, no one working with us, that was the Bush administration. What Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, when they came in, they became partners, because in a globalized world, guess what. The United States has to work with other nations, have to make sure that theres coalitions, have to make sure that were bringing people together. And thats what Hillary Clinton as secretary of state did, and President Obama started working in coalitions.
It used to be, you know, old Europe, and we were calling people names and changing from"freedom fries" from "French fries." What Clinton did was sat down with our European allies, sitting down with our allies in the Arab states, sitting down with our folks in Central and South America, trying to work with a coalition of folks what is good for all of us. And in that, there is a give and take, and you do share intelligence and try to figure out how you can move forward. That has been the philosophy of the State Department under Hillary Clinton and under President Barack Obama, which is a huge change from what it was previously.
AMY GOODMAN: Jeffrey Sachs, does that represent
REP. GREGORY MEEKS: So, to say that there has not been any change, that is not accurate.
AMY GOODMAN: Does that represent change?
JEFFREY SACHS:Ill tell you who she sat down with. I would encourage viewers to go back to The New York Times a couple of weeks ago when they unveiled what many of us knew, which was the secret deal of Saudi Arabia and the CIA to fund the destabilization of Syria. Thats who Hillary Clinton sat down with, with the CIA and with Saudi Arabia. And the bloodbath that we have underway right now is irresponsible. And its the same kind
REP. GREGORY MEEKS: Sir, go talk to NATO. Go talk to
JEFFREY SACHS: And its the sameand its the same kind of irresponsibility of going in to take out Gaddafi and then leaving a civil war and ISIS in Libya. And its the same irresponsibility of going in to take out Saddam Hussein. This is a repeated military-industrial complex, CIA-led coup change. And its bipartisan, by the way.
REP. GREGORY MEEKS: You couldnt be further from the truth.
Uncle Joe
(58,364 posts)Thanks for the thread, AtomicKitten.
AtomicKitten
(46,585 posts)He eloquently outlined precisely my trepidation about Hillary getting anywhere near the White House.
Uncle Joe
(58,364 posts)and I feel the same way.
DJ13
(23,671 posts)Wilms
(26,795 posts)...one of the most-corrupt members of Congress in 2011.
http://www.crewsmostcorrupt.org/mostcorrupt/entry/gregory-meeks
AtomicKitten
(46,585 posts)amborin
(16,631 posts)judgement.
Jeffrey Sachs correctly identifies her as such, plus, he calls her out for the liar that she is.
Libya and Syria are both in chaos because of Hillary. This was Hillary's doing, not President Obama's. He entrusted her
to correctly interpret intelligence, make sound decisions, implement his goals. She did NONE of this. She pressured Obama
to give the order to bomb Libya and now Libya is in chaos, ISIS roams freely. Even worse in Syria. Hillary is a disaster and she has RUINED Obama's legacy in the Middle East.