Would America be any different today?
Well…Hillary Clinton would be President…
I think this is a great question.
I supported President Obama over Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primaries in large part because I thought if Hillary became president it would be four years of nothing but right wing paranoia and hate mongering because “she’s a Clinton!”. I had hoped that President Obama’s centrist approach and oratory skills would reduce the level of partisanship for at least a year or two. Boy was I wrong.
I wonder now if Hillary would used a more forceful approach to counter the Republican’s obstructionism over the last four years than the President’s softer technique which hasn’t been effective. One example would be tax policy. I believe the President made a mistake in extending the Bush tax cuts and that he should have vetoed any bill that tried to extend them. Once they had expired he should have pushed for a middle class tax relief bill which would have restored the tax cuts to those earning less than 250k and challenged the Republicans not to support it.
Bottom line is I think if Hillary would have been elected there would be no difference in the level of right wing hysteria and obstruction but that she may have fought against it more ruthlessly and achieved a better result.
Her administration probably would not have staked so much on a health care reform bill.
That was her main concern during the Clinton administration, however.
And it was a significant issue during the primaries, too. I’m not saying she was not interested in the issue, just that it’s very reasonable to think that another administration might not have focused on that issue at that time.
It’s hard to see things going substantially differently. She had roughly the same economic team as Obama, so probably wouldn’t have tried for (or gotten) a much bigger stimulus or done much in the way of cracking down on the banks or any other populist measures that people on the left had called for; she almost certainly would have pushed for health reform and probably would have gotten something similar to what Obama ended up with.
The Republicans would certainly have gone into hyper-venemous mode instantly, only with less racism and more sexism.
She would not only have killed Osama bin Laden, but she would have also used his bones for soup stock.
I envision Bill walking into a press conference holding OBL’s head by the hair.
Hillary would probably have a military person carry it in a sack.
Somewhat more subtle.
Someone needs to photoshop this photo with Bill carrying OBL’s head right now.
I’d think the opposite. Hillary tried to enact a health care program during her husband’s presidency and failed. So I think she’d see reversing that outcome in her own presidency as a priority.
Or that could have deterred her from doing it again. The timing mattered as well as the issue, and another president might have saved it for later.
Instead of trying to appeal to female voters with Sarah Palin, the McCain campaign might have tried to appeal to black voters by choosing Alan Keyes as the VP candidate.
My personal opinion is that it wouldn’t be in Hillary’s character to accept defeat like that. I think she’d push harder for health care because she had lost the battle the first time and wanted the vindication.
I don’t know: they failed on the health care effort early in Bill Clinton’s first term and never went for it again. But the issue here is not just whether she would bring it up at all, it’s when she would do so. Both could have made a difference.
I don’t think Hillary would have gone for healthcare again right way. She’d be too vulnerable on that issue because of her past mistake. I think she would have focused more on the economy, increased the amount of corporate welfare, and we’d be in the same boat we are in now, only the debt might be even higher. The dynamics of the first woman president would be interesting though. Know way she’d get Obama. That was a gamble on Obama’s part. I think she’s been highly risk averse since her healthcare debacle.
She would have used her political capital to enact Bowles Simpson instead of the PPACA. The overall business community would have much stronger support for her. Her re-election would be a cakewalk, and the U.S. economy would be far better off. Foreign policy would have been somewhat similar although possibly a little worse. She would then go after some form of healthcare or healthcare insurance reform in her second term.
Is this wishful thinking, or could you point to some evidence in favor of each of these claims?
You cannot imagine the firestorm of propaganda that her election would have provoked from the NRA.
It would look exactly like the firestorm of propaganda they’ve been carrying out against Obama.