The Clintons Are Not Characters in House of Cards
A Clinton attack diary that made the rec list today includes the following 2001 quote from journalist Bob Herbert:
But the Democratic Party overlooked the ethical red flags and made a pact with Mr. Clinton that was the equivalent of a pact with the devil. And he delivered. With Mr. Clinton at the controls, the party won the White House twice. But in the process it lost its bearings and maybe even its soul.
In his own words, the diarist tells us the following:
Time after time after time, Bill Clinton and the party elite sold out our values for political expediency, until the party became virtually unrecognizable.
About Hillary Clinton, the diarist writes:
And it’s working, sort of, because she has every possible advantage: the whole party leadership, the national party machinery, the media, the super delegates, the piles and piles of corporate cash, and a willingness to be utterly dishonest when necessary.
The Bill and Hillary Clinton depicted in the ugly diaries and comments reminded me of another fictional democratic power couple: Francis and Claire Underwood. The Underwoods are ruthless—they lie, break rules, and even kill to achieve their goals. They discard supporters like old chewing gum. They have no compunction about sacrificing democratic principles to cement their power.
Some have implied that Hillary supporters are dupes, incapable of seeing how, beneath the surface, the Clintons are as evil and soulless as the fictional Underwoods. If we Hillary supporters are not dupes, we must be complicit. I’m not sure which implication is more offensive.
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY HAS MOVED LEFT
Hillary Clinton is not a fake democrat, and the democratic party is not republican lite. Hillary Clinton is a liberal writes Harry Enten of 538:
Clinton was one of the most liberal members during her time in the Senate. According to an analysis of roll call votes by Voteview, Clinton’s record was more liberal than 70 percent of Democrats in her final term in the Senate. She was more liberal than 85 percent of all members. …
Clinton rates as a “hard core liberal” per the OnTheIssues.org. She is as liberal as Elizabeth Warren and barely more moderate than Bernie Sanders.
As the republican party has become more conservative, the democratic party has become more liberal, on social rights and on economic issues. Enten points out that Hillary Clinton has shifted left, parallel to the democratic party and the nation. We find ample evidence of the party’s leftward shift on the economy in the 2012 Democratic Party Platform:
Reclaiming the economic security of the middle class is the challenge we must overcome today. That begins by restoring the basic values that made our country great, and restoring for everyone who works hard and plays by the rules the opportunity to find a job that pays the bills, turn an idea into a profitable business, care for your family, afford a home you call your own and health care you can count on, retire with dignity and respect, and, most of all, give your children the kind of education that allows them to dream even bigger and go even further than you ever imagined. This has to be our North Star – an economy that’s built not from the top down, but from a growing middle class, and that provides ladders of opportunity for those working hard to join the middle class.
The 2012 Democratic Party platform also mentioned the importance of holding Wall Street accountable, advocating for gay rights as human rights (a common phrase Hillary Clinton has used around the world), protecting marriage equality, promoting benevolent immigration reform, continuing to fight HIV, protecting LGBT youth and LGBT families, and defending a woman’s right to an abortion.
Although the 1988 Democratic Party Platform contained a lot of good positions, including the need for greater economic equality, it never mentioned gay, LGBT, Wall Street, marriage equality, or abortion (it does mention “reproductive choice.”) The 1988 platform emphasized protecting cops from cop-killing bullets, whereas the 2012 platform emphasized rectifying inequalities of the criminal justice system.
In the 1992 Democratic Party Platform, for Bill Clinton’s nomination, words like gay rights, abortion, and universal healthcare crept in. The 1996 Democratic Party Platform, adopted for his second term, is a mixed bag. Although still liberal on social issues, it was more centrist on economic policy. However, it was far to the right of the 2012 platform, which highlights how much the party has evolved in the past 20 years.
Party platforms are, of course, wish lists. One could argue the laws a president signs are better compasses for determining the direction of the party, which might be true if the president had the power to draft and pass laws. Instead, the president can only sign or veto what Congress delivers to his desk. When faced with intractable opposition, a president must often compromise, accepting bad policies to preserve good ones. (Although I hate it whenever President Obama compromises, the consequences of never compromising would devastate many lives.) Thus, just as supporters argue a legislator’s votes should be taken in context, a president’s sign/veto record should also be taken in context.
THE CLINTONS ARE NOT THE UNDERWOODS
Bill and Hillary Clinton’s lifetime records, especially when evaluated in context, show they are not the soulless Underwoods. Bill Clinton is not Claire Underwood, establishing the Clinton Foundation as a sneaky way to help his wife’s political career or boost their profile. Claire misused her environmental foundation to advance her husband’s march toward the White House, only to abandon it once her goal was achieved. When Hillary’s time in office is done, the Clinton Foundation will still be working to save lives and solve problems across the globe.
Hillary Clinton is not Francis Underwood, promising supporters a bill of goods that she will undermine behind the scenes. For example, [SEASON 4 SPOILER ALERT], she will not promote a bill for universal background checks and then conspire with the head of the NRA to kill the bill so she can maneuver Bill Clinton onto the ticket as her VP.
Hillary Clinton is running for the presidency to continue her life’s work of making the world better for women and children, promoting equality, and fixing problems America struggles with at home and abroad. Like every democratic president before her, she will make compromises that make us gnash our teeth and rail against her. She will make mistakes, which we must hold her accountable for and insist she own. She will ignore some of her promises, and it is up to us not to let her.
WE ARE THE DEMOCRATIC MACHINE
Hillary Clinton is not the democratic party. Bernie Sanders is not the democratic party. President Obama is not the democratic party. The DNC is not the democratic party. We are the democratic party.
To have a better democratic party, we must become better democrats. We have to turn out for every local and off-year election. Outside of presidential elections, we have to work for candidates who represent the best of our values and to demand change loudly and often. We may have to step up and be the candidates instead of letting the GOP candidate go unopposed. To those of you who do that, consistently and tirelessly, thank you.
We also have to unite to rid ourselves of anyone who does not serve our party well. And if Hillary Clinton does not serve our party well during her first term, we need not give her a second one.
The Underwoods are fictional and find it easy to bury secrets and buy silence to hide their evil actions. I would never vote for Francis or Claire Underwood. Now, as an atheist, I acknowledge that I am soulless, but that is not why I am working to make Hillary Clinton our next president. I believe she wants what I want: to protect our planet and deliver peace and prosperity to the people who inhabit it. The goals are lofty, the fight will be hard, and success is unlikely. But I believe she has the knowledge, experience, and desire to make decent progress.
