Facts from the Front – March 2016

by Moe White –

As great as many of his accomplishments have been, President Barack Obama began his presidency with two fundamental errors of judgment.

First, he believed Republicans in Congress wanted what was best for the country: his first day in office came during the depth of the worst recession in 70 years, and he was certain that everyone, including his former opponent John McCain, would work together to heal the nation’s economy and its battered psyche.

Second, he believed that, having set common goals, Republicans in Congress would work together and compromise to accomplish them.

But what the GOP wanted was not what was best for the country: they wanted what was best for Republicans and their base of Wall Street billionaires. For months McCain refused even to acknowledge Obama as president. And Republicans’ view of “common goals” was to keep him from accomplishing any goal whatsoever, even the ones they had articulated and propounded. Their reasoning was that if they could make him fail at anything he undertook, they could destroy his presidency and reclaim the White House for the “legitimate” leaders of America: white Republicans.

Despite 100% opposition from Republicans, Americans are far better off thanks to President Obama’s record … and despite remaining inequities and weaknesses in the economy. Unemployment is half what it was seven years ago; the stock market has more than doubled; most troops are home from overseas; the tax code is slightly more equitable.

Are there still weaknesses in the economy? Many. Are there still problems to address? Many. So who should succeed Barack Obama in the White House to carry on and build on his work?

I support Hillary Clinton, for several reasons.

She is a realist. Not only does Mrs. Clinton (like her husband) know the Republicans’ worst tactics, she has lived through them, fought against them, and survived them for more than a quarter of a century. She knows how our political system works, and how to make it work for us. She will not exhibit false optimism, but will accomplish our goals effectively using the system we have—rather than try to create an entirely new one against united opposition from Congress. That’s just political realism.

Her record is one of working for justice, for the good of those without power: children, the poor, minorities, the elderly. She has fought for equal rights and opportunities for women since the modern women’s rights movement began in the 1960s.

She began her career with the Children’s Defense Fund working with Marion Wright Edelman on behalf of poor children, where her work led to the Massachusetts legislature passing a law (one of the first in the nation) to guarantee educational opportunity to children with disabilities.

After moving to Arkansas, she ran legal clinics representing the poor and disenfranchised and co-founded Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, one of the state’s first child advocacy groups.

As First Lady, she fought for national healthcare; after its defeat by insurance company lobbyists, she led the successful bipartisan effort to pass the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP) that provides health care to more than 8 million children.

Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Clinton, in her first term as senator, secured $20 billion to rebuild New York and worked across the aisle to expand TRICARE, giving members of the Reserves and National Guard and their families better access to health care.

As Secretary of State under President Obama, she was instrumental in restoring America’s standing in the world. (Even Republican former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said she “ran the State Department in the most effective way that I’ve ever seen.”) She built a coalition for tough new sanctions that brought Iran to the negotiating table and brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that ended a war and protected Israel’s security.

The bottom line is that Mrs. Clinton has been in the arena for her entire life, fighting for those without power, access, and money: the working poor, racial and ethnic minorities, women and girls, LGBT people, and young people. Her positions are detailed at www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/.

Hillary Clinton knows what she wants for America, and what America needs doing; most of all, she knows how to get it done.

Facts From The Front is a monthly column by copy editor Moe White in which America’s Constitutional democracy is defended against ongoing assaults by those who prefer less palatable alternatives: oligarchy, autocracy, theocracy, feudalism, fascism, and other nondemocratic methods of government. This month he is focusing on a positive issue of a policital endorsement rather than hypocrisy, dishonesty, corruption, unbridled greed, flat-out lies, and sheer idiocy on the part of public figures. .

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in “Facts from the Front” are those of the author. They do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of The Urban News.