Who is Hillary Clinton?
We've all become side-tracked. We've all got lost. We're all having the wrong conversations. As a Clinton supporter, I am being asked about delegates and superdelegates, about Mark Penn and Jeremiah Wright, about percentages and demographics. But let's remember something: the issue is not how the candidates can win (and they both still can, of course); the issue is still what they would do if they did.
When Hillary announced her candidacy she said she was the most famous person in America that nobody knows. During the course of this campaign, her opponents and detractors have tried to introduce her to us in all sorts of unfavorable lights. There have also, inevitably, been moments in her campaign that some of her own supporters have felt awkward about.
But if you want to know what Hillary Clinton believes in, what she stands for, and what's in her heart, then look at what she's been fighting for her whole life: she's been fighting for people who need help.
Here's a woman who, when she graduated, went to work for the Children's Defense Fund, rather than for a fancy law firm with a big salary. Here is a woman who introduced legislation to tie Congressional salary increases to an increase in the minimum wage because she believes that if America's working people don't deserve a raise, neither do their elected officials. That's the Hillary I know: a woman of compassion and conviction.
Extending health care to those without it, to the young, the vulnerable, and the poor has been the great passion of her public life. Hillary Clinton - so demonized by her opponents - is a woman who has been fighting for the truly Democratic ideal of universal health care for the best part of two decades. She has sponsored legislation to fight the global problem of HIV and AIDS. She has authored legislation to reduce the price of prescription drugs. She was instrumental in the foundation and continuing success of S CHIP. Hillary gets it. And then she gets results.
So let's see the content of her character in every little boy and girl who has access to a hospital thanks to her work on S CHIP. Let's see the inspiration Hillary has given to those women across the world who have been able to stand with her and say that women's rights are human rights. Or to all those who saw a First Lady join a gay pride march for the first time and knew that the world was changing.
Let's see the inspiration in being able to show our daughters that there is nothing they can't do, nothing they can't achieve in this new century of ours. And - not just for our generation, but for our mothers and grandmothers who couldn't even vote - let's fight for the chance to say the words "Madam President" to someone who we know can be relied on to get things done.
Because those of us supporting Hillary are not just standing up for her, we're standing up for the 47 million uninsured Americans who will be covered under President Clinton. We're standing up for the veterans who will be treated right by her administration. We're standing up for a balanced budget and fiscal responsibility; for jobs and for the economy.
We're not just supporting Hillary Clinton, we're supporting a moratorium on home foreclosures for struggling families; a green collar sector creating local employment and cleaner energy production; we're supporting mental health reform and a stronger middle class.
We're not just standing up for Hillary Clinton, we're standing with everyone who wants American soldiers brought quickly and safely home from Iraq; everyone who wants to restore America's standing in the world; everyone who wants to leave this world a cleaner and greener place for our children.
And Hillary's supporters are standing up for her, because they know she will stand up for them as President, as their advocate abroad and their champion at home.
They are standing up for her, because they know she will work her heart out for them. And they know that, because that's what she's been doing her whole life.
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What about the 200,000 to 1.4 million civilians in Iraq who died? What about those poor children and farmers in southern Lebanon? What about the civilians in Iran? Aren't these people as well? How did she help them?
You hardly describe the HRC that we know from her campaign. Perhaps you can be forgiven for describing the "secret Hillary", but there's much more that many of us don't know that describes Hillary Clinton as she would be president, not her domestic desire to do well but rather a frightening will to do ill:
Military Policy: http://www
International Law: http://www
He is describing Hillary Clinton. You are describing the Hillary that MSM and the media have given you. Not unusual to be seduced by their power, but not wise either.
You mean the Hillary Clinton that Hillary Clinton helped the MSM define to the world.
Hillary Clinton voted for the war. If she hadn't made such a clearly WRONG move for as yet undisclosed reasons for which she has yet to apologize, then...
the minimum wage could have been doubled,
every American could have had full health coverage,
prescription drug prices could be renegotiated en masse by Medicare/Medicaid,
the US could provide free or low cost HIV meds to all the victims in the developing world,
free credit counseling could be offered to the misguided signers of variable rate mortgages,
job training could be set up for all citizens bitter about Beltway Insiders like her,
we'd have loads of cash to funnel into green energy solutions that don't induce famines,
and there'd be enough money to fund all sorts of Children's Defense for the next century.
You ask us to look at the real Hillary Clinton.
Brother, I've been looking at her for the last year and I swear, if she disappeared tomorrow, it would be the best thing she ever did for the country.
Besides donating some of her $100 million to anyone else but her campaign.
Sorry, but he's describing a sanitized Hillary Clinton without substance. I posted two links to substantive information about HRC, hardly published by the MSM, though it should be.
She is, simply, a warmonger who has supported GW Bush's illegal and unconstitutional foreign policy agenda.
"She's been fighting for people who need help."
Yeah. Like when Bush needed help to invade Iraq. She helped by voting to do so.
I mustn't begrudge you your sense of duty as a Sen. Clinton supporter; however, you're not exactly being as forthright as your readers deserve:
1. "But if you want to know what Hillary Clinton believes in, what she stands for, and what's in her heart, then look at what she's been fighting for her whole life: she's been fighting for people who need help."
- Perhaps not her "whole" life. The carefully chosen "35" years conveniently eliminates her Republican past. That number barely misses the time she worked as a "Goldwater" girl campaigning for presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, who was anti-Civil Rights, which fought "for people who need help."
2. "Here's a woman who, when she graduated, went to work for the Children's Defense Fund, rather than for a fancy law firm with a big salary."
- Clinton only served on the CDF for less than a year -- after which she DID go to work for a fancy law firm.
3. "Let's see the inspiration in being able to show our daughters that there is nothing they can't do, nothing they can't achieve in this new century of ours... "
- Now, let's replace every reference to a female with the words "African-A
Don't minimize her accomplishments condensing your support into "because she's a woman..." That's a disservice to her efforts and to Sen. Clinton herself.
First realize SELF-DELUSION is real. Having said that, you are entitled to your opinion however deluded that is.
Please check your facts on the Children Defense Fund and SCHIP. Don't echo what you were told....ec
Thank you for suggesting that some of us are allowed an opinion. My view of her comes from careful study rather than MSM and YouTube crap. My view is that she is not perfect. If your view is that Obama is perfect, you are the one dealing with self-delusion. My view is that she has more of the skills and knowledge to be president than Senator Obama. I'm not as ready to buy the GE lies and the MSM macho bunk as many, so I have an advantage. Image based advertising and pop idol connections don't wow me.
That said. Neither of the two candidates we have left are going to be as good as we would like. Both are hip deep in lobby money (please don't trot out Obama's carefully worded statement about that). Both are political products of the very rich. We will have to suffer through some really irritating decisions by either one if they were in the white house. But both are better than anything the republicans can offer. And Hillary would be better at dealing with other nations and at dealing with congress. Sorry, but she is just more knowledgeable there right now.
Obviously neocon opposition and the Harry & Louise ads killed the plan. But Clinton and her behind-closed-doors team underestimated opposition and overestimated support. They failed to organize & mobilize a strong constituency. The plan was too liberal for moderate conservatives and too conservative for liberals. When it ran into political trouble, they had no fall-back position and no strong allies. That is the 'conventional wisdom.'
Not nice people, every candidate has his/ her flaw. Had she and her supporters just stuck to this narrative, a joint ticket would have been possible, if she didn't win out right. Its not the destination, but the journey that determines the character of a person. To get a sense of how she behaves, one need look no further than the ad she ran today in my hometome market. Osama Bin Laden made an appearance. Are you fucking kidding me? Thats the Clinton my eyes have seen over the last year. She is sooooo much better than the campaign she has ran. Does she want half the party to hate her. Her supporters may hate his supporters i.e Kool aid drinking, latte sipping naive babes of the world. But I 'm hard press to find many supporters of hers that hate him. I can say without hesitation, SHE has pissed off alot of dems, Blacks, latte sipping, small states, red states, caucus states, youngins, and now netroots and Moveoners. These people detest this woman. Not her surrogates ( although they haven't exactly did themselves any good), HER. Not saying I would vote for McCain but i may stay home. If I do vote for herit would be with a pinched nose and alot of vodka.
rand the only reason obama is still in this is because of the mass marketing job the msm has done for him. If Hillary has run such a horrible campaign she wouldn't be in this very tight race after all the vile attacks from obama, obamabots, the rightwing and of course the msm.
It is obvious you have no concept of reality in anything you have said in your reply to this AWESOME post.
Let me tell you, we're all sick of being "side-tracked" as you put it. I'm bloody sick of being "side-tracked" from the real issues by the parade of non-issues coming from Team Clinton - like whether Obama should have said that McCain would be a better president than Bush.
Clinton's secretive approach to health care reform caused its failure. Her disorganized, back-biting campaign organization shows that she didn't learn much from that fiasco.
As an "inspiration" for our daughters she certainly proves that a woman who's been first lady can do pretty much anything she wants, big deal. I'd rather not have my daughter model herself on someone who lies repeatedly and then admits it by saying "I just said some things that weren't in keeping with what I knew to be the case."
The Clintons have had my support for a long time, in a general sense, but her campaign since Super Tuesday has been disgusting.
What do you really know of the health care debacle that took place during Clinton's first term? It wasn't secrecy or bad ideas that scuttled that effort, but the huge amount of money and influence that the neocons brought forth. They were adamant that they must not let a workable health care system be set up by the government. Their founding tenet is that government doesn't work. So they overwhelmed the idealistic Clintons who lacked the kind of experience dealing with sharks and devils that is needed to get progressive legislation past the neocons. Hillary no longer lacks that experience. If he is elected, Obama will have to get that experience the same way Hillary did, by being bested by the devils. Then it will be another 10 years before it comes up again.
I know that the Health Care defeat is a big talking point for the Obama camp. But the "conventional wisdom" about that episode is not reality.
You can take this to the bank, Hillary may win Pennsylvania. She may win the nomination, but she will never ever be POTUS. She has done too much to people that she needs in order to win. I would suffer through years of John McCain first. I will no no better off then I would if she got it. I see how she runs her campaign, I want no part of it.
The problem is that so many republicans hate her with an insane passion. I have several republican friends who firmly plan to support Obama, but would never, never, never vote for Clinton. She had too much baggage to begin with - now it's completely over the top.
It's not just republicans, independents either hate her and bill or don't trust them, and half the democrats hate them too. I really don't understand where her supporters get the idea that she can win when she will energize republicans to come out and vote against her, while suppressing the democratic turnout.
So MANY REPUBLICANS and BO supporters deeply hate her, because she is so pliable, resilient, brillian, bitch, scary, compassionate, qualified and tough, and a woman to boot.
They can put her down, but can't keep her down, tha's why they hurt her, she might threaten their 3 billion dollar profits they gouge from the american working people.
BO he's just plain scary, look at how ugly hateful his supporters are, GEE, I wonder how they got that way.
Birds of a feather, FLOCK TOGETHER.
Good Luck Hill Family, together we will rise
This writer states: "But if you want to know what Hillary Clinton believes in, what she stands for, and what's in her heart, then look at what she's been fighting for her whole life: she's been fighting for people who need help."
I have no idea what planet this writer is from from HRC is a monster.
You must be right. After all it's right there on YouTube.
Read a book sometime.
Your bio of Hillary leaves out 34 of the 35 years of experience she is claiming.
Things like her years at Rose Law Firm and on the board at Walmart.
Her whole life?
"Clinton worked at the Children's Defense Fund for less than a year, and that's the only full-time job in the nonprofit sector she's ever had. She also worked briefly as a law professor.
Clinton spent the bulk of her career — 15 of those 35 years — at one of Arkansas' most prestigious corporate law firms, where she represented big companies and served on corporate boards."
In short, Clinton has not "been fighting for people who need help" her whole life. Often she was fighting against them, as corporate lawyer representing corporations.
"In her autobiography, "Living History," Clinton mentions two cases. In one, she represented a canning company against a man who found part of a dead rat in his pork and beans. In another, she represented a logging company accused of wrongdoing after an accident injured several workers.
She also served on corporate boards, including that of retail giant Wal-Mart from 1986-1992, frozen yogurt purveyor TCBY from 1985-1992 and cement manufacturer LaFarge from 1990-1992. She earned tens of thousands of dollars in fees from each.
Clinton's firm represented Wal-Mart and TCBY while she sat on their boards, a cozy practice that corporate governance experts frown upon because of the potential for conflicts of interest."
I won't deny that Clinton done some good things during her life, but the majority of her 35 years of experience consists of self-enrichment, not of selflessly fighting for the underprivileged.
Why didn't you mention that she was on the board of Walmart for years, helping them screw the little people? Is this not something you should stand up for? Are you embarrassed by this part of her so called many years of experience? I'm sorry, but if you can't mention these types of things, then your argument seems empty.
Why didn't you mention she promoted NAFTA and her husband and Mark Penn with her knowledge promoted Columbian Free Trade, not to mention China. This woman is the reason why we don't have jobs.
http://www
Come back with some substance. I cannot think of anything she has done in New York, she promised them 30,000 jobs. Where are they?
Do you read, dear "youarekillingme"?
Are you under the age of 15?
Walmart was not the evil giant it is today when Hillary was on the board. It was at a time when Sr. Walton was still involved in the business, before passing along to his children.
Let Hillary have a moment of glory.. you naysayers are the most NEGATIVE I have ever seen.
I read that piece and wondered..
Tongue out of cheek now.......
I am from Iowa. I was Hardin County Democratic chair. I know the Clintons. They have not changed. They are still strong idealists while being pragmatic. Hillary knows the economy, the needs of all people. Because she was on the BOD of Wal-Mart does not mean she condoned Wal-Mart stands as she was a junior partner of the Rose Law Firm and had a job to do. She has made more friends for the USA than Obama or Bush or similar radicals. I can support Clinton. I cannot support Obama, as he will destroy the Democratic party and hand the White House, Senate, Congress and Supreme Court over the Republicans: from his wife's comment that she has never been proud to be an American before this year, to his pastor Jeremiah Wright's "God damn the US-KKKA" to his gaining property by slight of hand, and so much more. Two years in the US Senate does not consitute ability or experience. His time in the Illinois Senate was to vote Present. Obama has cost the Democrats their victory in November, and this Democrat will never vote for him along with thousands of other Democrats who want a real Democrat on the ticket.
Those poor Hardin county Dems...
Well, now we know why you WERE the Hardin County Democratic Chair.
They got wise to you - did they?
The two posters to arthuride's comment are apparently the standard HuffPost Obama supporters. Rather than dealing on a factual basis with the well-spoken post from someone who was actually there, and knows what he is talking about, they throw out personal, nasty attacks about someone they do not know, from their position of complete ignorance and bias. More of hte same for the Obama campaign.
gosh guy, you sure seem to be cherrypicking from hillary's record/life in order to support your position. you left a whole lotta stuff out.
Mr. Simon,
You did your loyal duty and wrote this warm and fuzzy "bio" the day before the Penn. primary. Hillary and her campaign can be proud and if she wins the nomination she will have many people like you to thank. I hope she follows through.
If she doesn't, I hope you'll consider another great Democrat who has spent his adult life helping and inspiring people too.
I assume you are talking about Barbara Boxer as "another great Democrat" but she is a woman.
Boxer for VP (with Obama, of course).
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