Hillary Clinton and the emerging Democratic agenda

by | Jan 15, 2015 | Editor's Blog, National Politics | 7 comments

Barack Obama has proven to be a resilient politician. Despite frequent declarations of his political death, he stays in the game. He was certain to lose re-election but managed to win despite a pessimistic country and relatively low approval ratings. The loss of the Senate in November was going to render him a lame duck, standing on the sidelines while the GOP shaped policy for the final two years of his presidency. Instead, he’s shaping the Democratic agenda and putting Republicans on notice.

Last week, he called for free community college to get our young people and displaced workers the skills they need to compete in our changing economy. Yesterday, he announced that he will call for paid family and sick leave for all workers. Combined with his support for raising the minimum wage, he’s outlining an agenda that appeals to blue-collar families.

It’s a smart move. In 2014, Democrats ran against the Koch brothers and big money in politics instead of running on anything. At a time when wage earners are being left out of the recovery, Democrats need to show that they stand for something and side with the American worker.

Combined with Elizabeth Warren’s calls for fixing a system that’s rigged against middle and low-income families, the policies make up a populist agenda that could carry Democrats through 2016. Obama is about to have a megaphone in his State of the Union speech that he can use to redefine his party and policies. He should embrace Warren’s message and chastise GOP efforts to weaken financial regulations on big banks while touting his plans to help middle class families improve their incomes and their quality of life.

The Democratic platform is taking shape but the missing player is the presumed presidential nominee. Hillary Clinton needs to step up. Her supporters claim that she has the most experience and is most qualified for the job, but Americans want more than that. They want a leader who stands for something and, ideally, inspires them.

Barack Obama was elected with a promise of hope and change that galvanized younger people with a campaign that looked more like a movement than a presidential campaign. George Bush, while not as inspiring, promised voters an end to the drama and rancor that defined the Clinton administration. Before that, Bill Clinton heralded the arrival of the baby boomers with all the chutzpah and self-aggrandizement that goes with that.

Hillary Clinton may be a powerful candidate for president, but she’s going to need to make herself more relevant. Right now, she’s the presumptive nominee because of her contacts, fundraising potential and existing organization, not because she stands for anything substantial. Warren and Obama are offering solutions that both address a broken system and provide benefits to people who’ve been left behind in the recovery. Clinton’s opportunity is to wed the two messages and put together a truly populist agenda, arguing that she, with her experience and contacts, can make it a reality.

7 Comments

  1. Salt of the Earth

    Corporations are not people…they maybe made up of employees that work for the corporation/companies but they should not be considered one and the same. In corporations there are different levels of employees and even though most all are needed to help make the company run well they are not all given the right to considered when policy is made or how long term judgment’s are made for the company. Most of the time the decisions are made by the few at the top and it is said to be made in the best interest as a whole for the company. I don’t agree with that. Most decisions are made by the few at the top that secure the companies future yes, but there is always a rider added onto those decisions. The riders are the unseen decisions that many employees may not share in such as securing the positions and income of the few at the top of the company… kind of what happens in our U.S. Congress. The rest of the employees mid level and lower level never get to share in these unseen decisions of the upper few. This is why I do not agree with U.S. corporations to be given the same status as individual American citizens and be involved in our political system. A corporation should not be given the same rights that individual citizens are given in this country .Corporations should not be considered the same as people. Most of those corporate employees don’t get to decide how their corporate decisions are made and for that reason alone the law giving corporations the right to be involved in our political system and allowed to inject billions of dollars to elect an official should be reversed. Only the few at the top are given the right to make decisions for the corporations. Giving corporations the rite to influence our election system with endless amounts of money to do nothing more than allowing businessmen to push their agenda and interests into our political system for financial gain and more so for power..!!!, Power to control our government and political system.

    This is a tragedy of enormous proportions and will have tragic consequences for America and most important the American citizens.

  2. RedHotPoker

    Hitlary has a PRISON TERM for multiple MURDERS to serve before running…She has SO MANY ISSUES, like her sexcrazed hubby, her zero accomplishments as senator and SoS…
    just a dismal figure that needs to fade to grandmother…

  3. Robert

    What we need is a fresh approach. D.C. and its long term insiders will offer nothing new no matter how they try to rehash things. It is time we look outside the major parties and it is time we get big money out of politics. When the rich can get whatever government they wish by simply spending enough on the election, our system is badly broken.

  4. larry

    I see the John Birch Society alum are out in force today. Funny , I read and later saw on TeeVee that Hillary Clinton was and has been for some time, ranked in the top five most respected women in America. Guess that despised thing mostly rest in the dark corners of the right wing. And the comments of this post is the only time I have ever seen Obama and W tossed in the same bag but suspect that was for show to make a weak point. No matter. 2016 the Dem take back the Senate and Hillary is Prez and good old Bill will be First…whatever. So guess that lipstick will work.

    • Thuaidh Cearuilin

      Hillary is yesterday’s news, and she’s old, and the photo up top not withstanding she’s crusty and tired looking. Plus she’s not a pimple on Bill’s lascivious hide end in terms of political skills. She a horrible speaker with a tendency to go Biden, and she’s got more baggage than the Queen Mary in her heyday.
      Look I hope she does get the nomination, I’m just saying I don’t think the Democrats are that stupid (or desperate).

  5. cosmicjanitor

    Hillary Clinton is one of the two most despised political figures in America today, no amount of lipstick on the pig is going to change that circumstance. She is only the ‘presumed democratic presidential nominee’ cause the right-wing bloviators and republican establishment want it that way; how about not amplifying their delusion, the floundering democratic ship-of-state can’t take-on so much as another droplet of water! As far as Obama goes, he has always talked a good talk; the problem is, most of his talk turns -out to be more lies – he is one of the few other US. presidents who can rival George Bush as ‘the biggest liar’ to ever set foot in the Oval Office. Obama was the perfect establishment presidential candidate in that he provided enough fodder to the republican establishment to enable them to destroy the democratic party, so much so that one can’t help but wonder if he was a republican plant for just such a purpose – as was Bill Clinton before him and was LBJ the all-time ringer.

  6. Thuaidh Cearuilin

    P.J. O’Rourke, “If you think something is expensive now, just wait until it’s free!”

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