Flashback: 2008 Hillary Clinton Opposes Obama #39;s New Tax Plan
Flashback: 2008 Hillary Clinton Opposes Obama #39;s New Tax Plan (April 26, 2008)
By: Washington Free Beacon
Read more:
Flashback: 2008 Hillary Clinton Opposes Obama's New Tax Plan - Video
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that sheassumesHillary Clinton will bethe 2016 Democratic presidential nominee anddismissedthe suggestion that infighting stirred by the populist wing of the party could derail her candidacy.
If Secretary Clinton runs, I believe that she will win and she will be one of the best-prepared people to enter the White House in a long time, in terms of her experience and her knowledge, Pelosi told MSNBCs Andrea Mitchell during a live interview from Capitol Hill on Tuesday. [But] that doesnt mean that the party is devoid of other voices getting ready for what comes beyond."
She added: "And to help President Clinton, should that be the case, be a great president."
Even as President Obama prepares to deliver the 2015 State of the Union address Tuesday evening, political operativesare turning their attention to the 2016election, wondering how the president's addresssets up a Democratic rubricfor the next election. The speech is slated to focus heavily on economic policy the strengthen the middle class.
But Hillary Clinton, who has long been considered thefront-runner in the race for the Democratic nomination but has yet to formally declare her candidacy, has come under fire from progressives dissatisfiedwith her political allianceswith Wall Street. It's worth noting that the WhiteHouse despite its strong pivot to middle-class issues has also frequently faced criticism from the party's progressive wing over its relationships with corporate interests.
The debate as to where the party comes down on certain issues is certainly a lively one. And Ive had my own disagreements even with the White House with some of the proposals that have come forth. But thats why were the Democratic Party. We love each other; let other versions exist, Pelosi said.
Do you assume that [Clinton]will be the nominee? Can she win an election? Mitchell asked.
Yes. Yes, Pelosi said with a smile.
Jose DelReal is a blogger for Post Politics.
Story highlights A key Republican attack on a would-be Hillary Clinton presidential run would be that she'd be Obama's third term Clinton has been talking with a number of high profile Democratic operatives while considering a presidential run Clinton has also reportedly hired advisers from Obama's 2008 and 2012 runs for top jobs in her campaign
But ahead of Tuesday's State of the Union address, critics say Clinton is making their job easy.
Tim Miller, the executive director of America Rising, an anti-Clinton communications and research super PAC, argues in talking points to other Republicans that Clinton is tying herself to Obama by working with and hiring many of his staffers ahead of her all-but-certain 2016 run.
"By hiring his key political and policy staff and making no public moves to place clear distance between herself and the President on issues likely to be front and center in the coming Congress, Clinton is signaling that she's not just from the same party as the President, but that she's an Obama Democrat, who will back his policies, pursue his agenda, and represent a Third Term of the Obama Administration," Miller argues in a memo to the group's supporters.
Since last year, Clinton has been meeting with a broad array of Democratic operatives and possible campaign staffers ahead of a possible 2016 run. But in the last month, Clinton has reportedly began to tap certain Democratic operatives -- many with ties to Obama's two successful presidential runs -- for certain jobs on her nascent campaign.
John Podesta, a top aide on the Obama White House, has said a number of times that he plans to leave the White House in early February and would happily work for Clinton is she runs.
"If she runs, as I hope she will, I will do whatever she asks me to do," Podesta, who previously worked as chief of staff to former President Bill Clinton, said on the Charlie Rose Show in November. "Right now she hasn't made a decision to run, so I am expecting to return to what I was doing before."
Democrats widely expect -- and other outlets have reported -- that Podesta will serve as Clinton's campaign chairman, should she run.
In the memo, Miller argues that Podesta's inclusion on team Clinton is the biggest sign of her joining with Obama. "He [Podesta] will bring that same policy agenda, willingness to subvert Congress and rhetoric to Team Clinton," he writes.
What's more, Clinton has reportedly selected pollsters Joel Benenson, John Anzalone, David Binder and media adviser Jim Margolis for top roles in the campaign. All have worked in similar capacities for either the President's 2008 or 2012 campaigns.
See the original post:
Clinton critics jab at Obama camp hiring
Story highlights Gallup released a survey of most admired living people on Monday Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has repeatedly won the list for women
Hillary Clinton takes the top spot on a list of admired living women for the 13th year in a row, according to an annual survey released by Gallup on Monday.
President Barack Obama, meanwhile, is considered the most admired living man in any part of the world.
When asked to name a woman they've heard or read about and admire, 12% mentioned Clinton, the former secretary of state, New York senator and first lady.
Eight percent said Oprah Winfrey, 5% said Nobel Peace prize winner Malala Yousafzai, and 4% said first lady Michelle Obama.
Other names mentioned included actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie (2%), former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (2%), Princess Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge (2%), Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts (1%), and former first lady Laura Bush (1%).
Clinton, who's considered the Democratic frontrunner if she runs for president in 2016, has also held the top spot in 17 of the past 18 years. Laura Bush was considered the most admired woman in 2001, not long after the 9/11 attacks.
In the seven decades that Gallup has been asking the question, Clinton has won the designation more than any other woman, including six times more than former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
Obama is also continuing a streak, with this year marking his seventh year in a row as the most frequently mentioned man who people admire most. He was given the designation in 2008 shortly after winning election to his first term.
According to Gallup, the U.S. president is almost always mentioned as the most admired man, with only 12 exceptions in the past 68 years.
Here is the original post:
Clinton, Obama most admired
The president's proposals are designed to force his presumptive successor to campaign and govern on his terms.
Jim Young/Reuters
Theres a subtext to President Obamas slew of domestic policy proposals since the November elections: President Obama does not trust Hillary Clinton very much.
None of the presidents domestic-policy brainwaves has much chance of becoming law in the next two years: not free community college, not cash grants to selected middle-income households, and certainly not heavy tax increases on upper-income earners. The president knows these odds better than anybody. So why keep propounding such no-hopers? The intent, pretty obviously, is to box in his presumptive successor as head of the Democratic Party.
The Language of the State of the Union
Every time the president advances a concept that thrills his partys liberal base, he creates a dilemma for Hillary Clinton. Does she agree or not? Any time she is obliged to answer, her scope to define herself is constricted.
Hillary Clinton emerges from the Democratic Partys business wing. Whatever her own personal viewsstill an elusive quantum after all these years in public lifeshe is identified in the public mind with her husbands record, her husbands appointees, and her husbands donors. Not just in the public mind, but seemingly in the presidents mind, too. So as the clock runs down on his administration, he seems determined to set the post-Obama Democratic Party on a more leftward course than he himself had the strength to steer.
Obama here is sharply departing from the practice of other recent two-term presidents as their transition neared.
As Ronald Reagans second term entered its final stretch, he and his last chief of staff, Ken Duberstein, became legendarily solicitous of the views of the Republican Partys likely next presidential nominee, George H.W. Bush. Bush got such a voice in major policy decisions and appointments that insiders dubbed the process a friendly takeover, with the emphasis on the takeover, not the friendly. President Reagans 1987 and 1988 State of the Union addresses were strikingly cautious: more old nostrums, like the balanced budget amendment, than new initiatives. The outgoing president seemed determined to avoid anything that might compromise his likely successor.
President Bill Clintons relationship to Vice President Gore was more fraught than Reagans with Bush. President Clinton was also more personally energetic in his final two years than the more elderly Reagan. Yet to the extent that Clinton tried to shape the next presidential election, he did so by hammering upon the theme on which he and Gore most emphatically agreed: earmarking government surplus revenues to the Social Security trust fund, rather than tax cuts or new spending, the famous lockbox.
Excerpt from:
The Real Target of Obama's Speech on Tuesday? Hillary Clinton