Letters to the Editor

• @ Anonymous

  [Read the article: An old-fashioned thumpin' in South Carolina]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  To be fair though, how do these votes of Clinton add up to a vote for change:

  1. No child left behind

  Hillary Clinton voted for this bill; she has also consistently said that part of the problem is its lack of funding and has said it needs to be changed.

  2. Bankruptcy Act

  Senator Obama voted against authorizing caps on the amount of interest credit card companies can charge consumers on this very bill.

  3 Patriot Act (twice)

  Senator Clinton also voted for changes in the Patriot Act that did not pass.

  4. No flag-burning amendment (co-sponsor)

  If you check the most recent record on this vote you will note that Hillary Clinton voted against it.

  5. Iraq war resolution

  To be fair, Senator Obama wasn't in the Senate when this resolution was introduced. He has also said that he doesn't know how he would have voted had he been a U.S. Senator when the resolution passed. Hillary Clinton is also the one Democratic contender who has a comprehensive plan to bring home U.S. troops, taking into account the need to protect pro-U.S. Iraqis, Iraqi citizens, embassy personnel, contractors and aid relief workers who would be caught in the middle. This may not be enough for Obama followers, but by her plan she is admitting we need to bring the troops home. Her plan also has the lessons of history in it about what happened when we pulled out of Vietnam.

  6. Iran resolution

  Okay. You have me on this, I admit it. WOW! She voted for it. That makes her a tool of Bush/Cheney if ever there was one. I was furious when she supported it and am still angry that she did so. But that vote is not the sum and substance of Hillary Clinton's accomplishments or her vision for the future.

  7. (if Bill's administration counts) N.A.F.T.A. and Welfare Reform?

  Hillary Clinton has said more than once that she and her husband disagree on many things, including NAFTA. I also want to point out here that with regard to welfare reform, Hillary Clinton worked hard during her husband's administration to make sure that low-income women had a) the training to get into skilled trade and technical jobs; and b) that women had the supports (like child care, extended AFDC/welfare payments, for example) to ensure that the transition from welfare to work would be successful. I know this because I was working in Washington, D.C. with progressive organizations on this issue.

  Now, tell me that none of this counts toward "change."

  What I get angry about is that Hillary Clinton is given ZERO credit for her accomplishments -- which are lengthy -- and is derided over and over again because she voted to authorize the war, while overlooking the incredible good work she has done on behalf of children, women, the poor, the disadvantaged, senior citizens, and the disenfrancished around the world.

  Have you ever worked in politics, at any level? Have you ever spent any time working in "the system" in Washington, D.C.? In politics in your state or community? It sounds as though you haven't. The reason I say this is because you seem to have such a black-and-white view of what's good and what's bad; what's right and what's wrong and you consistently place Hillary Clinton on the "bad" side of this equation, while placing Barack Obama on the "good side."

  Second question: how do you think Hillary Clinton accomplished what she has with regard to children, families, women, the poor, human rights, education? She did it by building coalitions and support across party lines, across ages, across race, and across gender, among others. You act as though Barack Obama is saying something completely new with "It's time to turn the page" and that Hillary Clinton is just some DNC "machine" tool that does what the appartchik tells her to. It just isn't that way.

  Obama followers need to stop behaving like angry children because Hillary Clinton voted to authorize the Iraq War, and stop the juvenile tagging ("Billary," "HillBill," and other name-calling), and act like adults who want to be part of the new political order. The reason that Boomers have been upset with young people is because they have shown no interent or inclination to be part of the dialogue or to add their voices or elbow grease to the problems and challenges we face, while we (Boomers) have been in the trenches working in the system on those very problems we are accused of ignoring, or worse, starting! Hillary Clinton, I am proud to say, is one of the Boomers that has been "in the trenches."

  Permalink Sunday, January 27, 2008 06:11 PM