Hillary's pledge: "When I am President"

I am watching Hillary's address to the DNC Winter Meeting on dnc.org

Did the primaries end already? Is Hillary the nominee?

She tried her best to tell the Party faithful what she thinks we want to hear.

Here are some quotes that stuck out for me ...

"Unfortunately, we still have a lot of poor people". (But let's not worry too much about them -- I wanna talk about the middle class ...)

"We need to start standing up for the American Worker again". By competing (not sure how) with China.

On Iraq, Hillary wants to "say no to President Bush" and "begin to reverse his policies".

"If I had been President in October of 2002 I would not have started this war"

She will tax oil company profits to develop alternative energy. Won't say how much.

"I know a thing or two about winning campaigns"

"We can find the right end to the War in Iraq" (but what is the right end?)

"You ain't seen nothin' yet" - maybe the theme song for her 2012 re-election campaign?

She should be respecting the primary process, but she is acting like the nomination is already in the bag. I don't hear any of the other candidates saying "When I am President".

Is this her strategy? Make everyone believe it's a done deal?

It wouldn't make sense to get up there and say, "Well I'd like to be President and if I was . . . "

Come on, not even Kucinich does that. He plays the game with ultra-confidence. That's what candidates do because in order to convince you, they have to be totally convinced themselves.

But that's not the point. Hillary is held to much stricter standards and punished and questioned more severly under the harshest of microscopes than everyone else. Remember, this is DU! :-)

that if you -- or any of us -- endured 1/10th of what this woman has from the right wing smear machine as well as people from her own party -- including many on DU --, you'd change your tune in a hurry. It's interesting that I feel the need to defend her although she's not even my Top Choice Candidate! But other's stupidity and shortsightedness tends to get my goat, regardless of the subject.

Hillary's proxies constantly attack Dean. He has graciously stayed above it all.

Who in her own party, aside from DUers, have questioned Hillary? Do you have any links or is it a myth?

And of course, nobody forced her to run for President.

Hillary is a very smart and ambitious person. She knows what's up. I don't see her as a victim, I see her as a candidate and I think people need to realize that being a presidential candidate is a crucible in a democracy. Inquiring minds do want to know, and Hillary doesn't somehow deserve a pass on what she says, how she votes, her political history, or her personal history.

My opinion is that Hillary is an elitist. I hold this view going back to her highly secretive and insurance-CEO-friendly health care initiative. I want to vote for a candidate who unabashedly supports a single payer fee for service universal health care solution. I don't want a candidate who suggests band aid solutions and calls it progress. I think that methodology is the hight of shortsighteness. How many people have to go without healthcare for how long because Hillary depends on insurance company contributions?

I want a candidate who is at least as smart as I am on the question of war and peace. Hillary finally admitted she wasn't as smart as I am on these issues, and then to compound it, she has continued to vote funding for her mistake. I think that is extremely shortsighted. I think this is stupid. I think this is cruel and brutal. How many more people have to die or be maimed for a mistake?

I want a candidate who can make decisions based on the common good and will stand up for that principle, even if unpopular at a given time. I see Hillary as a candidate who bases many of her decisions on short term political calculas as opposed to the long term common good. When will Hillary embrace an unpolitik stance, based on principle, and fight for it? When has she ever?

Even with her triangulation, I don't believe Hillary can win the Presidency. I belive if she's nominated, we will lose in 08.

That is my opinion. If you feel my opinion is unfair, stupid or short sighted that's your right.

I cry no tears for Hillary. I don't veiw her at all as an enemy, but I cry for the people in this country with inadequate health care told they have to wait for a bone, for the families and friends of the hundreds of thousands of dead people and the maimed and wounded, because of a foreseeable mistake about war and peace.

I want a real change in this country. Not a status-quo lite.

but he didn't get pulled in front of a grand jury for some bogus land deal and didn't have his spouse impeached for a blowjob. And I thank you for "educating" me so wonderfully about Hillary being an elitist. Nice to know you can so effortlessly -- and without doubt -- judge someone you've never met and probably will never meet. You bring up interesting points, but I stand by my belief that she is held to a much higher standard than other candidates simply because she's Hillary.

We'll agree to disagree. Best of luck to you.

himself a bit (or Hillary) with his blow job. Bad judgment. Especially while he was being sued by Paula Jones. They set him up with the deposition in the Jones deal, and then took down the whole party and the whole country.

I never met bush either. Have you? What's your opinion of him? Mine is much much worse than my opinion of Hillary. I think she a good Senator and she often votes the way I like, sometimes not but most of the time, yes. Of course, almost all her votes have been on Republican generated bills, so far.

I'd trade her for my senior Senator (Baucus D-MT) in a heartbeat. I have met him, a couple of times. He never saw a financial services corporate generated bill he didn't like.

Fortunately, he's not running for President.

I see you didn't address a couple of my questions/comments, and I assume you aren't going to.

But I'm still wondering what Dems, besides Duers, have attacked Hillary? Or are you just inoculating for the future?

Peace

I'm not going to specifically adress your concerns. It's a bit like arguing with a Christian Fundamentalist: they absolutely KNOW they're right and you're wrong and nothing you can say will convince them otherwise. People have their own Truth and I respect that. I just tend to bristle when people (whether they be Clinton, Gore, Obama, Kucinich, Biden ... okay, not so much Biden) get attacked left and right while others get something akin to a "free pass". So, with that in mind, I find myself defending Mrs. Clinton (whom I have met and worked with, by the way) a lot on DU. Again, she's not my first choice for Pres, but I do believe -- and this may just be my Truth -- that she's held to a much higher, more rigorous standard than other candidates.

I have not met Bush, but my father did and saw something interestingly vapid and hollow yet immaturishly malicious in his eyes. For my Dad to say that, you know it had to have bothered him. And this was early in the 2000 Presidential Campaign.

As for Hillary, we can just agree to disagree. No harm done. That's the beauty of Free Speech and Debate. Not everyone has to be on the same page, but at least they can work together to see if they share common ground. The Agree To Disagree Standard, I call it.

Peace.

media annointed (and cash raised) front runner status may have something to do with the standard you talk about.

There isn't much point in pointing out Biden's drawbacks at this time, since it's percieved that he's toward the back of the pack. If he were percieved to be at or near the front, I bet more people would write about why thay wouldn't want him as the nominee. I think this is just human nature, not particular to any candidate. for instance, now that Edwards is percieved to be doing well in Iowa, we saw a lot of posts about his house and about his stance on Iran.

At this point of the declared candidates, I like Kucinich for a lot of reasons, the three main ones being he's got a single payer fee for service health care bill, he has been against the war from the start and has voted against funding for the war from the start and he has an announced detailed plan to bring home the troops; He speaks out about the need for open, honest, citizen controlled elections.

If Gore enters the race, I know I could support him as well for the same reasons, and I am also taking a close look at Clark.

about Kucinich. I'm actually deep in the midst of producing/rewriting a film, so the Pres Candidates are kinda low on my list of Things To Figure Out right now. As the Campaign Season progresses and we get closer to debates, etc., I'll start paying more attention.

It's been a good chat. Thank you.

"I have not met Bush, but my father did and saw something interestingly vapid and hollow yet immaturishly malicious in his eyes."

I have not met Bush, but based on watching him thru the media - I have the same viewpoint as your dad.

His latest stunt with tractor-driving (see this week's Top 10 Conservative Idiots) only reinforces my impression.

:kick:

I even heard Brownback a few weeks ago saying in an interview "That's how I'm going to run this campaign" then adding "and that's how I'm going to win" with a tone of uncertainty in his voice. And who could forget Katherine Harris in Florida: "I am in this race, and I am going to win." She was right about the first half at least.

more than positive thinking its I am the nominee get use to it.

if you subtract the speaker's name, wouldn't this sound like a workable Democratic campaign speech? From most of the current candidates?

All the stuff about restoring the promise of America to the hard-working middle class who play by the rules and go to college and do what they are supposed to do. I have heard all that 100 times before from Clinton in 1992, Gore in 2000, Kerry and Edwards in 2004.

Hillary is covering some old standard tunes from the party songbook. Her delivery is OK - maybe 6 out of 10. Certainly not outstanding.

of "our" candidates.

(and if I don't, my good wife will knock me on the left side of the head. And she isn't alone)

...and that all the party faithful don't think exactly like you?

You seem to be under the impression Clinton is NOT popular in the party. She is. Why do you want to dissect everything she says and assign some hidden dark meaning to it when the other candidates are exhibiting the same confidence and same rhetoric?

We can all sympathize with an intelligent woman who gave everything to support her husband's political career - and he paid her back by cheating, lying (or at least - not telling the truth), and subjecting them both to unprecedented public ridicule and humiliation.

But this is about who should be President of the US for the coming 8 year period.

Who has the experience and judgement to make the right decisions at the right time (not 5 years later when the tide of public opinion has already turned around)?

Hillary's confidence and rhetoric are not the same as the other candidates.

Show me where John Edwards or Wes Clark said "When I am President"?

We can all sympathize with an intelligent woman who gave everything to support her husband's political career - and he paid her back by cheating, lying (or at least - not telling the truth), and subjecting them both to unprecedented public ridicule and humiliation.

Sean Hannutty says the same thing - only Clinton experienced NO public ridicule beyond that from Republicans. He had a 73% approval rating the day after impeachment.

But this is about who should be President of the US for the coming 8 year period.

Yes it is. There aren't many running better qualified that Hillary Clinton and, indeed, she has experience others don't: 8 years in the White House.

Who has the experience and judgement to make the right decisions at the right time (not 5 years later when the tide of public opinion has already turned around)?

How many other Dems did this turn around when the tide of public opinion turned. Edwards? Kerry?

Hillary's confidence and rhetoric are not the same as the other candidates.

Show me where John Edwards or Wes Clark said "When I am President"?

Oh, why not.

John Edwards said it about 4 times in this speech:

http://www.4president.org/speeches/johnedwards2004announcement.htm

Wes Clark said it here:

http://clark04.com/speeches/041/

I checked those links and the words "When I'm President" are there in black and white.

It just seems to me a little early in the electoral cycle to be using those words. We are still 12 months out from the first primaries. Maybe I'm just old fashioned?

As far as the 2008 race is concerned, I believe Hillary is the first candidate to use those words. I guess she wants to shore-up her position as the perceived front-runner (according to most of the national polls I have seen so far). I guess it's not a crime. But at the same time - it's not really a reason why people should vote for her.

EVERY candidate says those words. It is a standard stump speach line.

As far as the 2008 race is concerned, I believe Hillary is the first candidate to use those words.

I doubt that very seriously but if so, so what?

Two years out from the inauguration, I want to hear candidates and potential candidates talk about the issues. What they have achieved in the past and where they stand on the issues. What is their analysis of the challenges we face and what solutions are they putting forward.

"I'm running for President" "I'm in to win" "When I am President" -- it's all just another way of saying "I am in the lead" "I am going to win". But if she carries on like this for the next 12 months there is a big danger that many folks will get tired of hearing it.

Hillary is copying Bill's campaign from 1992 but he did not announce until October 1991.

Two years out from the inauguration, I want to hear candidates and potential candidates talk about the issues. What they have achieved in the past and where they stand on the issues. What is their analysis of the challenges we face and what solutions are they putting forward.

All in a seven minute speech?

"I'm running for President" "I'm in to win" "When I am President" -- it's all just another way of saying "I am in the lead" "I am going to win". But if she carries on like this for the next 12 months there is a big danger that many folks will get tired of hearing it.

People get tired of a Democrat with confidence? Unlikely.

Hillary is copying Bill's campaign from 1992 but he did not announce until October 1991.

How so? And if so, it was a winning formula. Demonstrate how Hillary Clinton's use of it and the timing of it will somehow be detrimental.

In my opinion anyway:

Is this her strategy? Make everyone believe it's a done deal?"

Apparently, it's the "main stream" media's strategy too. What a lame-ass strategy. Don't get me wrong. If you're running for POTUS, you BETTER be confident, but this idea of a "done deal" feels like my voice is being silenced. Also, I realize that IF my candidate is not the nominee, I will vote for whoever the Democratic nominee is, and I want to know about something other than this election being a "done deal" thnak you very much. I watched all of the DNC's winter meeting speeches. This is how I rank them, with a brief comment for each. :


1. Dennis Kucinich - I liked what he said about ending this war NOW, and that we don't have to wait till 2009.
2. Wesley Clark - I liked how he laid out his qualifications, and how these qualifications are needed in a president.
His sensitivity for those who have served was obvious and touching. You could tell how personal
this war is for him.
3. John Edwards - Two things I liked: First, his recognition of Molly Ivins, and I have always liked his fighting spirit.
4. Christopher Dodd - Excellent and powerful speech, and a flaming indictment of the bu$h administration.
Actually, I probably rank him higher than 4th.
5. Barack Obama - He had great audience response, and I liked the inclusiveness of his speech.
6. Hillary Clinton - She made a great speech.

with something nice to say about every speech! :)

I have posted my comments on Clark and Edwards in other threads. Haven't watched the other speeches yet.

I guess many of you already know I am hoping that Al Gore will enter this race at some point before this year is out. But none of us knows if Gore is ready and willing to run again. My guess is that he is keeping his options open and will make a decision sometime in the summer. So I am looking at the other candidates, trying to see who would be "The Next Best Thing" ...

:kick:

And here I just thought it was so she could get good syrup from New Hampshire and cobbler from Des Moines.

Which is fine by me. Not a big Hillary fan, I like her. But not a huge fan. But if she wants to be the nominee she needs to start talking and acting tough because the nominee will face the GOP slime machine.

Personally I don't think she'll get the nomination, as I've said a billion times. But it's good that she is showing confidence.

... it may close the book on a decades old campaign stump speech technique, but damn! We don't want to hurt the feelings of or discourage other candidates.

By talking out of both sides of her mouth and making speeches like this when she forgets there's an internet . . .

Hillary Clinton made it apparent where she stood on outsourcing during her India visit, in an attempt perhaps to clear the Indian misgivings received during the Kerry campaign. "There is no way to legislate against reality. Outsourcing will continue," she told an audience of Indian big-wigs. She pointed out that there were 3 billion people who feel left behind and are trying to attack the modern world in the hope of turning the clock back on globalization. "It is not far-fetched to imagine ... if the Indian miracle would be the one of choice of those who feel left behind," said Hillary.

Hillary has been at the forefront in defending free trade and outsourcing. During the height of the anti-outsourcing backlash in the US last year, she faced considerable flak for defending Indian software giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for opening a center in Buffalo, New York. "We are not against all outsourcing; we are not in favor of putting up fences," Hillary said firmly, despite inevitably invoking the ire of the anti-free trade brigade.

Yeah, THAT'S not gonna dog ya . . .

Knock any real contenders out of the way early. I don't know why Feingold chose not to run, but he's out. Then she helped knock Kerry out over the joke. That left Edwards and she planned to knock him out by moving money primaries up early, like California. She'd have been on top of the world if Obama hadn't entered the race.