So...I'm Thinking About Next U.S. Presidential Election

[Main_Brain]

Those who are the first to announce their running somehow never are those left after the Primaries

[Imran Siddiqui]

She was strongly for universal health care back when most weren't. She was ahead of her time on that issue. And she strongly supported the creation of CHIP when First Lady. I think she was a good Senator (although I don't agree with some of her votes or positions, for the majority I do). I voted for her in the 2008 primaries. I also believe she was a very good Secretary of State. She was done well even under ridiculously vitriolic Republican opposition and has consistently backed positions to help the have-nots. And I think she's been more than verified in that it really "does take a village" (for which she was pilloried when the book was released).

[C0ckney]

i think i'll support whomsoever isn't a warmonger and/or corporate shill.

oh...i see.

[rah]

The reason I ask, is that in every article I read the writer will say things like

she was a good Senator

or

she was a very good Secretary of State

But they never list any solid examples of why they believe that.

I can't give her credit on the Universal health care besides the fact that she favored it. It was her main priority decades ago, and couldn't get it off of ground zero. Whatever excuses doesn't change the fact that it went nowhere. To me that was a lack of leadership and focus.

I know I'm not a fan of hers and want to make sure that's not coloring my memory of what her accomplishments actually are. Which is the main reason I keep asking people.

[DinoDoc]

I think she was a good Senator ... I also believe she was a very good Secretary of State.

On what basis is that judgement made?

[Imran Siddiqui]

But they never list any solid examples of why they believe that.

Her voting record for one. I don't agree with some of her votes on USA Patriot and the Iraq War, but I strongly agree with her votes against Bush's tax cuts and for immigration reform. For people on the left, her voting record was very encouraging.

As for SecState, she wasn't averse to force, but also stressed negotiation. She stressed far more soft power than the Bush Administration's foreign policy - shown by visiting Burma (first SecState since 1950s to visit there) to support democratic elections. The relations between the US and Russia and Pakistan were far warmer in Clinton's turn as SecState than they have been in Kerry's turn there (although Clinton was one of the major voices calling for the strike on OBL even if it would make Pakistan angry).

I can't give her credit on the Universal health care besides the fact that she favored it. It was her main priority decades ago, and couldn't get it off of ground zero. Whatever excuses doesn't change the fact that it went nowhere. To me that was a lack of leadership and focus.

It was a titanic struggle to get it passed 15+ years after she had originally attempted to get it passed. She laid the groundwork for it and that is something that all people in favor of universal health care have to be eternally grateful about.

[Ming]

It was a titanic struggle to get it passed 15+ years after she had originally attempted to get it passed. She laid the groundwork for it and that is something that all people in favor of universal health care have to be eternally grateful about.

Excuse me... since when did we get universal health care?
I hope you aren't trying to call the current system "Universal Health Care"... because we aren't even CLOSE to Universal Health Care

[DinoDoc]

Her voting record for one.

What accomplishments does she have from her time in the Senate? What actual legislation with her fingerprints on it did she get passed into law?

As for SecState, she wasn't averse to force, but also stressed negotiation.

Can you name a single accomplishment she had as Sec State?

[rah]

Hey at least he's trying to quantify it. That's more than I can say of most.

But it's quite a stretch to say she laid the ground work for the eventual passage of 'universal health care';

[Sava]

I think he was joking to get Walker out of Wisconsin.

correct

[Imran Siddiqui]

What accomplishments does she have from her time in the Senate? What actual legislation with her fingerprints on it did she get passed into law?Can you name a single accomplishment she had as Sec State?

Knock yourself out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_career_of_Hillary_Rodham_Clinton

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Rodham_Clinton%27s_tenure_as_Secretary_of_State

[DinoDoc]

Traveling alot isn't an accomplishment so much as it is an activity Imran.

[Aeson]

I could see voting for Hillary because she's a woman. Not really because she's a woman, but because it would be fun to watch MRA groups and Republicans get all tied up in knots about how people voted for her just because she's a woman. It's not like there's any good alternatives* on either side.

*I might vote for Warren if she ran, I'd have to actually spend some time looking into what she actually does rather than what she says. But pretty much anyone else who's been mentioned as a possibility has no redeeming qualities. (Other than myself and Sloww ... we'd be awesome.)

[DinoDoc]

I thought you renounced your citizenship.

[rah]

Hmm reading the sec state one and the final summary seems to contradict your opinion.

Overall themes and legacy[edit]
While Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State has generally been praised, observers have noted that there was no signature diplomatic breakthrough during it nor any transformative domination of major issues in the nature of Dean Acheson, George Marshall, or Henry Kissinger.[283][284] The intractable issues when she entered office, such as Iran, Pakistan, Arab-Israeli relations, and North Korea, were still that way when she left.[283] To a large extent, however, the conditions of the geopolitical world during this time were too complex and immune to American will to allow breakthroughs such as the Marshall Plan or Nixon's trip to China to occur.[284] Many of Clinton's initiatives in the "smart power" realm will take much more time to evaluate as to their effect

Sounds quite mundane.


But of course, none of the current fore runners will stand up to equal scrutiny.