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John Nichols: Hillary Clinton’s Soft Populism Is Not Enough
from the Nation:
by John Nichols
As she struggled to keep her 2008 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination alive, Hillary Clinton took a turn toward economic populism. It helped; after a series of setbacks in early caucus and primary states, Clinton’s abandonment of frontrunner caution and embrace of “I'm in this race to fight for you” rhetoric secured her big wins in states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania. Ultimately, she gained more votes than Barack Obama and came reasonably close to wrestling the nomination from him. If Clinton had run from the start as a populist, there is no telling what might have happened. But the important thing to remember is that Clinton did not turn up the volume until she felt she had no other choice—and by then it was too late.
Now, as she launches a new bid for her party’s nomination, Clinton is starting with populist talk. In a slick announcement video released Sunday she gripes that "the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top."
"Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion," says the former First Lady, US Senator and Secretary of State, on the various platforms employed for the carefully coordinated social media launch of her long-anticipated candidacy.
Clinton sounded the same themes in somewhat more detail in a freshly-released epilogue to her book, Hard Choices. Reflecting on the birth of her granddaughter, she writes, “I'm more convinced than ever that our future in the 21st century depends on our ability to ensure that a child born in the hills of Appalachia or the Mississippi Delta or the Rio Grande Valley grows up with the same shot at success that Charlotte will.”
.......(snip).......
Activist pressure is essential, and it may move Clinton some. But a real race for the nomination, as opposed to a coronation, is the best guarantee that the party will produce a sufficiently populist nominee to strike the chords that will inspire voters. If Clinton is not up to the task, then Democrats had better find an alternative. If Clinton recognizes that she must not merely note the crisis but address it—recognizing the concerns about her record and answering them with economic agenda that makes real the populist promise—then she will have the right message not just for a nomination fight but for a November fight that will require a lot more than platitudes. ..............(more)
http://www.thenation.com/blog/204041/hillary-clintons-soft-populism-not-enough#
17 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Rather than try to channel it and try to make it happen. 
If a leading candidate has two LGBT couples in their campaign announcement then I'd hope people support that and push for it.
How embarrassing for you.
It's what corporate advertising does. Manipulate to sell.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6495421
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6495421
Glossy pictures on a box, but great resistance to actually labeling the Monsanto poison inside.
Wall Street can't run on the issues, because the corporate agenda Hillary represents is predatory to the people of this nation and to democracy itself. Instead, we get slick, manipulative, vapid advertising designed to sell us the product that Wall Street has already decided to deliver to us.
Corporate America has been working a long time to pervert our electoral process. To turn elections into a profitable pageant and team sport, rather than a civic exercise to find the candidate who will best represent the interests of the people. They have worked very hard to divorce campaigns from actual issues as much as possible and to replace civic discourse with vapid fluff like Hillary's ads and the shiny object scandal, cute moment, or gaffe of the day. It is relentless, cynical, and viciously, deliberately antidemocratic.
"Official 2014 Democratic Party Survey" deliberately omits the most important policy issues
http://sync.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5856363
Obama campaign REFUSES to disclose plans on Social Security to public, says discussion belongs with senators
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021483594
Lies upon lies upon lies...The standard MO of corporate politicians now.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026169801
Lies, Manipulation, and An Army of Propagandists
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6168908
Twilight Zone denials: the "deny Hillary's entire record" corporate talking points.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6478452
We are treated like blithering idiots and gaslighted to ignore reality itself
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6197744
This is the sickness into which our political system has been deliberately devolved by those who have purchased our electoral system and our government.
Nothing is more important than ending the cancer of corporate money in our electoral system. This garbage has become normal now, and we need to remind people of the electoral process that is supposed to define a democracy, in which the people's voices matter and in which candidates have an obligation to demonstrate that they will actually work for the interests of the people
These vapid, slick campaigns devoid of substance should outrage every American. So should the parade of insulting propaganda polluting our discussion spaces, in which posting mindless support devoid of content, demanding loyalty based on party alone, and attacking those who even mention the actual predatory policies of corporate politicians has utterly replaced the obligation to set forth the candidate's policy agenda and show why he or she would be the best choice.
We don't have a democracy anymore. We have a corrupt oligarchy systematically perverting our democracy into something more resembling fascism with secret laws, secret courts, mass surveillance, and the faux, glossy, utterly fake shell of a democracy.
Hillary is the poster candidate for this corruption. She represents the brazen continuation of the corporate sellout of our democracy that has hollowed out our middle class and systematically built an authoritarian, antidemocratic, corporate government to operate with impunity right alongside and instead of the one we are taught about in school.
This nation cannot AFFORD four more years of corporate dismantling of our democracy. It needs to end.
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Hillary Clinton Cheerleads for Biotech and GMOs
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Dissecting Hillary Clinton's Neocon Talking Points - Atlantic Interview
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017209519
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025205645
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024876898
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http://m.thenation.com/blog/180572-grassroots-labor-uprising-your-bank
How Hillary Clinton's State Department sold fracking to the world
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251376647
Hillary Clinton Sides with NSA over Snowden Disclosures
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101695441
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http://m.thenation.com/article/180564-nsa-hillary-clinton-either-fool-or-liar
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025601610#post29
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025189257
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014829628
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Some of Hillary Clinton's statements on Social Security.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024379279
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017209285
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Hillary Clinton: Neocon-lite
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101684986
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025824981#post9
Hillary Clinton criticizes Obama's foreign policy 'failure'; strongly defends Israel
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014867136
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026219783
Hillary defends Israel on Gaza carpet bombing
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025274041
Hillary tacks right of Obama on foreign policy.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024707589
Dissecting Hillary Clinton's Neocon Talking Points - Atlantic Interview
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017209519
NYTimes notices Hillary's natural affinity toward the neocons.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025205645
Hillary Clinton, the unrepentant hawk
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024876898
Hillary Clinton Praises George W. Bush and the Art of Compromise
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026394878
Hillary Clinton's role in right-wing Honduran coup and aftermath
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025601610#post29
Hillary Clinton's Horrifying Iraq War Vote Still Matters.
http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/hillary-clintons-iraq-war-vote-still-matters-9737
Secret recordings show US military and a Democratic congressman distrusted Hillary Clinton on Libya (lying, manipulating intelligence)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026157088
Hillary Clinton Blasts ‘Unfair’ World Reaction Over Gaza, Cites Anti-Semitism As Factor
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025364869
Obama didn't go as far as Hillary now says she wanted to go in smashing Syria
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Hillary Clinton Serves Us KISSINGER KOOL-AID
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025504036
MJ - Hillary Clinton Praises a Guy With Lots of Blood on His Hands
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025493748
