Media coverage of Sanders has been fawning, partly because many journalists harbor sympathy for his anti-corporate message but mostly because they’re desperate for a contested primary. Given Sanders’s strong poll numbers, the media would eventually have gotten around to tearing down the man they pumped up. But Team Clinton clearly wants to accelerate this process before Sanders gets any more momentum.
.. If Hillary actually goes after Sanders on these specifics, the Democratic race will get very interesting very fast. A debate about Obamacare versus single-payer health insurance, about expanding Social Security versus restraining its growth, and about the merits of free trade would be fascinating. But I doubt it’s a debate Hillary wants to have.
Can Hillary Clinton Be a Woman of the People?
Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign is based on the assumption that voters are angrier at the rich than they are at the poor.
.. Even as Americans are receptive to raising taxes for the wealthy, voters remain open to demonizing the poor, especially those who are viewed as dependent on government benefits.
.. Hispanics, a key Democratic constituency, were among those most critical of welfare recipients, describing beneficiaries as “taking advantage of the system” by 52 to 39, close to the 53 to 35 split among members of the white working class. Independent voters were critical of beneficiaries’ motives by 49 to 41.
.. Included in the $25 million in speaking fees Bill and Hillary Clinton have received since Jan. 1, 2014, is a large chunk from the finance industry: $500,000 from the Bank of America in London; $225,000 from UBS Wealth Management; $270,000 from Deutsche Bank AG, Boston; $150,000 from the Canadian Bank of Imperial Commerce; and $280,000 from Deutsche Bank AG, New York.
The Mobilization Error
Politics is broken today because those sorts of leaders have been replaced by highly polarizing, base-mobilizing politicians who hew to party orthodoxy, ignore the 38 percent of voters who identify as moderates and exacerbate partisanship and gridlock. If Clinton decides to be just another unimaginative base-mobilizing politician, she will make our broken politics even worse.
The Many Measures of Hillary Clinton
To the extent Hillary has an ideological core, it’s economically progressive, culturally moderate and hawkish on foreign policy. She’s just stressed different aspects of this political identity at different times.
.. In 1994, she said she was “not comfortable” with the distribution of condoms in schools and in her 1996 book, It Takes a Village, she promoted abstinence and criticized easy divorce.
That wasn’t dishonest. As one Clinton administration aide put it, “She’s a very judgmental Methodist from the Midwest.” But today, with America’s cultural debate having moved left, Hillary is downplaying her judgmental, moral side and emphasizing her progressive economic views instead.