Primary Place Online

Hillary Clinton came to Stratham on Friday and a good number of people turned out to see her in the CMS gym.  While we waited I discussed the current presidential field with a friend who was a year ahead of me in school and also writes on Primary Place.  He said that he thought Clinton's healthcare plan was the best and, after seeing the candidate, I have to agree. 

Clinton was introduced by two of her constituents, one of which was a former Republican, who had been personally touched by the Senator.  While their introductions grew a wee bit tedious, you can see the effort by the Clinton campaign to portray Hillary as a kind person.  However, I think that comes across from just seeing her speak and level with the crowd (Her daughter and mother were there just in case we forgot that she was human).  As a disclosure, I was brought up in a house that revered President Clinton, so I have no qualms about his Presidency (moral or otherwise).  I’ve never quite understood the intense hatred my fellow conservatives have for Senator Clinton.  Whether this is because many of them were raised conservative and I simply evolved into a conservative or because I wasn’t even in school when Clinton first tried for universal healthcare, I can’t say.  All I can say is I’ve never had a gag-reflex concerning the Clintons.

Now, I'm certainly not a healthcare voter, far from it, as someone who would like to see the power of the Feds rolled back, but what Senator Clinton proposes makes sense.  As someone who worked within the Halls of Congress at the tender age of 16, I know they have the best deal in the world (part of the reason I wouldn't mind being a congressman someday).  The insurance plan (and pension plan for that matter) provided to Congressmen and their staffs are nearly unparalleled in the private sector.  Backed by the power of the almighty United States government, one never has to fear losing insurance (or their pension for that matter).  Clinton does not suggest a socialized system of medicine, like the British National Health Service or the Canadian system.  Rather, she simply suggests universal healthcare.  And, frankly, as someone who went in to her speech questioning whether healthcare is the province of the State, I came out a supporter of universal healthcare.  The government is not introducing a new system of insurance--it would simply be expanding the coverage available to its employees to the general public.  It isn't very revolutionary and doesn't strike me as very socialistic.  Is it enumerated in the Constitution?  No.  But the elastic clause is.

Senator Clinton left the door open for Iraq, which I have no problem with.  I cringe every time a Democrat calls for "immediate withdrawal" from Iraq.  Just because we leave doesn't mean the Iraqis will stand up.  While we shouldn't have gone in, we did not go in there only to leave and let Iraq devolve into chaos or a theocracy.  While Clinton has committed to bringing home several brigades within 60 days and a couple more every month after that, she left the door open for other action.  She said she would first confer with the Joint Chiefs.  I think she has the political guts to stand up to the anti-war elements of the Left if the Joint Chiefs feel (in their very professional opinion) that the US cannot stand down from Iraq. 

Clinton had some strong words for the corruption that is rampant in Washington.  Of course, no plan for how to convince Congress to legislate corruption away from itself, but perhaps that is forthcoming.  I think it has simply become the rhetoric of this campaign cycle.  Clinton made the obligatory nod towards global warming and spoke about looking for alternative energy and working for independence from foreign oil (Saudi Arabia) and foreign monies (China).

I don't fault Clinton for the rhetoric about corruption or the environment.  No candidate I have seen has been very definitive about these "alternative energies" besides vowing tougher standards for vehicle emissions (as they all drive off in black SUVs).  She (like all of the Democrats) talked about ending No Child Left Behind, but she didn't have an answer for what to replace it with (perhaps we should just let the states decide what's best for them).  She mentioned universal pre-K and universal kindergarten, which are admirable goals, but ultimately up to the states.  She should provide the money, but not a mandate.  There are still towns in NH that choose not to have kindergarten, and that's their right!

Clinton answered a question concerning Social Security rather ambiguously, but in an agreeable manner.  She acknowledged that she didn't quite have an answer on how to reform it, other than suggesting that a commission should investigate the possibilities and that she will work to make sure partisan politics don't kill the suggestion of that commission.  Makes sense to me.  Social Security is something that is here to stay... we must fix it without upping the payroll tax.

I left the building impressed by Senator Clinton.  She came across as a moderate... she won't be out there regulating Wall Street up the wazoo, but she'll expect Wall Street to be better behaved.  She isn't out to make every doctor a government employee or nationalize every insurance company.  She'll simply expand coverage that's already there.  While she spoke, it felt like I was sitting at a table with her, not simply a face in the crowd.  Her speech did have some elements that sounded like a (rhetorical) stump speech, but other parts were sincere policy propositions.  She didn’t run from her reputation—she cracked jokes about it.  She was both witty and intelligent and, while a smooth talker, it didn’t feel like she was handing us a manufactured spiel.  She spoke from no notes for quite a while.  In fact, she spoke longer than the amount of time she devoted to questions.  If she’ll govern as well as she speak, we’re in no trouble!  Lastly, Senator Clinton wants to balance the budget.  It took a GOP Congress to force her husband to consent to a balanced budget.  But Senator Clinton is one Democrat who realizes that a balanced budget is a necessity. 

Senator Clinton certainly had the support of her party's establishment.  The NH Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate (both women), as well as several female legislators, were onhand to support her.  It doesn't worry me that she has the support of the establishment, because she is speaking a softer tone than the national establishment.  I think she'll be able to enact change that's needed without turning this into a rich vs. poor fight.  I'm still curious how she'll maintain relations with a most-likely Democratic Congress.  The Senator hasn't won me over to vote in her party's primary yet... however, I feel that if I do vote in the Democratic Primary, I'll probably be filling in the bubble next to her name.  I still have to see Senator Obama, but Senator Clinton really impressed me with her policy suggestions and stage presence.