Hillary Clinton
Related: About this forumNew York Magazine: The Case Against Bernie Sanders
Sanders has promised to replace Obamacare with a single-payer plan, without having any remotely plausible prospects for doing so. Many advocates of single-payer imagine that only the power of insurance companies stands in their way, but the more imposing obstacles would be reassuring suspicious voters that the change in their insurance (from private to public) would not harm them and more difficult still raising the taxes to pay for it. As Sarah Kliff details, Vermont had to abandon hopes of creating its own single-payer plan. If Vermont, one of the most liberal states in America, cant summon the political willpower for single-payer, it is impossible to imagine the country as a whole doing it. Not surprisingly, Sanders's health-care plan uses the kind of magical-realism approach to fiscal policy usually found in Republican budgets, conjuring trillions of dollars in savings without definingtheir source.
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The Sanders campaign represents a revolution of rising expectations. In 2008, the last time Democrats held a contested primary, the prospect of simply taking back the presidency from Republican control was nearly enough to motivate the partys vote. The potential to enact dramatic change was merely a bonus. After nearly two terms of power, with the prospect of Republican rule now merely hypothetical, Democrats want more.
The paradox is that the presidents ability to deliver more change is far more limited. The current occupant of the Oval Office and his successor will have a House of Representatives firmly under right-wing rule, making the prospects of important progressive legislation impossible. This hardly renders the presidency impotent, obviously. The end of Obamas term has shown that a creative president can still drive some change.
But here is a second irony: Those areas in which a Democratic Executive branch has no power are those in which Sanders demands aggressive action, and the areas in which the Executive branch still has power now are precisely those in which Sanders has the least to say. The president retains full command of foreign affairs; can use executive authority to drive social policy change in areas like criminal justice and gender; and can, at least in theory, staff the judiciary. What the next president wont accomplish is to increase taxes, expand social programs, or do anything to reduce inequality, given the House Republicans fanatically pro-inequality positions across the board. The next Democratic presidential term will be mostly defensive, a bulwark against the enactment of the radical Ryan plan. What little progress liberals can expect will be concentrated in the non-Sanders realm.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/01/case-against-bernie-sanders.html#
Great read. The article demonstrates why Hillary is far and away the best candidate when it comes to being able to do what actually can get done.
underthematrix
(5,811 posts)And this is one of the reasons I think HRC is the best choice too:
But here is a second irony: Those areas in which a Democratic Executive branch has no power are those in which Sanders demands aggressive action, and the areas in which the Executive branch still has power now are precisely those in which Sanders has the least to say. The president retains full command of foreign affairs; can use executive authority to drive social policy change in areas like criminal justice and gender; and can, at least in theory, staff the judiciary.
Bernie avoids foreign policy always pivoting back to economic policies where he can engage in a delusional diatribe against the rich without offering realistic do able solutions.
BlueMTexpat
(15,366 posts)prefer Hillary.
Tommy2Tone
(1,307 posts)Everything Bernie is proposing, on every plan requires congress to go along with him. The ACA passed with not one single Republican voting for it. How is he going to compliment his grand plan? The correct answer is he isn't. He is just feeding his base who believe the man is a messiah.
This post destroys all Bernie's arguments and does it well. Thanks for posting it.
K&R
Treant
(1,968 posts)require a Democratic supermajority in the Senate--and one that's actually Democratic, not the Dem/Ind short-term dominance we had to push the ACA through.
That seems rather unlikely...and it also seems rather unlikely that the Senate will go for a health care plan that even Vermont as a state couldn't pass.
It's a bit sad, but it looks like we'll have to work incrementally through the ACA. I'd suggest a public option first to reign in the insurance companies a bit, and then expand that over time...but I'm not a politician and not a health care expert.
Cha
(297,154 posts)him as the nominee. I don't think he's what our Country needs.
billy_j2
(2 posts)Sanders position is not about him, but about what he represents in the Democratic party. He is a return to the core values of what Democratic party people used to fight for, before they went "Centrist". He is about organization and hopefully he is not like Obama who upon ascending to the presidency, where he turned his back on his organization, Sanders is all in with organization. Democratic party voters and members are looking for long coat tails. The movement is about taking back the house and the Senate. It is all about encouraging new voters and keeping them voting. It is all about a "Democratic " movement not a Rebublic ideal where we elect and then hope they do what we want.
Organization begins at the local levels and state by state. He has that same momentum that would have allowed Obama in his first two years to have placed and enacted a progressive agenda, if he wanted to . He didn't and without a doubt, judging by her war hawkish, corporatist and Wall street activities of the past, she is the most perfect Republican to run for the Democratic nomination.
It is a simple choice, either we can or we can't! Sanders or Hillary. Hope, change or capitulation.
Look at their records , not their political words. Words are cheap. Sanders is inspiring the Democratic party because his actions are authentic, not triangulated.
MADem
(135,425 posts)Cha
(297,154 posts)propaganda is being pushed around against her. It's just that.. and you're not going to be able to spread misinformation in here anymore.
BlueMTexpat
(15,366 posts)is plastered everywhere else on DU.
But here, you may NOT do it.
stonecutter357
(12,695 posts)pandr32
(11,579 posts)...and why I worry that if Sanders were to win his rhetorical bluster would quickly begin to make him seem impotent rather than a leader of a political revolution--losing its fantastical effect on his followers, and they would become jaded and turn on democrats...blaming them all for the lack of pie-in-the-sky progress and their own delusions of being revolutionaries.
The mid-term election could be a Republican feast.
SunSeeker
(51,550 posts)You've got that right, and at every opportunity is lambasting the DNC during the campaign.
leftofcool
(19,460 posts)Nyan
(1,192 posts)is the reason I prefer Bernie over Hillary.
Ellen Forradalom
(16,159 posts)Bernie vs. Putin.
Nyan
(1,192 posts)And Putin's gonna cower because Hillary so tough?
BlueMTexpat
(15,366 posts)This is the Hillary Clinton Group.
JBonnetteArt
(1 post)Hi! My name is Jolie Bonnette and I own the cartoon you're attaching to your posts. Can you please not do that? I don't allow such use for my artwork as it's how I make my living and such uses generally don't allow for credit to me or links to where the work can be purchased. Unauthorized uses like this actually hurt the brand of the artists whose images you use.
gopiscrap
(23,756 posts)stonecutter357
(12,695 posts)Ellen Forradalom
(16,159 posts)That's just crazy talk isn't it? Makes no sense in your world, I see.
Nyan
(1,192 posts)Are you serious with this shit?
He's much more of a dove than her. That's why I prefer his foreign policy stance than hers.
Is that so hard to understand?
By the way, I'm a girl and I've dealt with a fair share of sexism in my life. So don't fucking throw that shit at me.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)but Putin is no dove.
While Putin knows and respects HRC; he will have to establish a relationship with Bernie, from scratch. And, he will do so by testing Bernie in ways he never would test HRC.
And, I can't say how Bernie will respond to the tests. That concerns me.
kjones
(1,053 posts)Or just assault him with passive aggressive snark and hope he rolls over.
The idea that Bernie can handle foreign policy better than Clinton...is
perhaps the most ridiculous thing I've heard all season.
SunSeeker
(51,550 posts)1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)Putin respects HRC and has a relationship with her; whereas, Putin will test a President Bernie in ways he never would HRC ... just to see how far he can go. And I can't say, I know how Bernie will respond to that test.
Treant
(1,968 posts)Well, duh, obviously it doesn't help. The fact that Putin's a bit nutty seems to be a bigger barrier.
I'm firmly convinced that Mrs. Clinton has his number...since she's shown she had his number in the past.
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)Knows it is not going to happen, she knows it will not get through Congress. This is where her experience is important in her campaigning. You can't promise the sky when you know it is not possible. She does not want to be a failure.
William769
(55,145 posts)in the Primary.