6 ms·
Why do you assume the next president won't do a backflip and support it once they're in? Politicians break promises, and break opinions a whole lot more.
by Qwertious 10y ago
Why do you assume the next president won't do a backflip and support it once they're in? Politicians break promises, and break opinions a whole lot more.
- ocdtrekkie 10y agoI can't argue that as a definite possibility. Obama certainly did quite a few things directly opposed to reasons I voted for him.
- guelo 10y agoI could see Clinton doing that backflip but if it's Trump he seems to be genuinely anti-free trade.
- harry8 10y agotrump isn't genuinely anything but pro-trump.
- nostromo 10y agoHillary reads the same to me, I must say. I have no idea what she genuinely believes. But, honestly, why would anyone run for president unless they were an insane egoist or craved power? It's not a job a sane person would volunteer to do. There are a few rare individuals that do it out of desire to do good, but they seem rarer by the day.
- daveguy 10y agoI wish Elizabeth Warren had run. She is a prime example of a sane down to earth person turning down the position everyone else lusts after.
- labster 10y agoShe's so sane and down to earth that she'd rather be the most powerful Senator for 20 years than President for 4 years. You should be thanking her for playing the long game.
- shawn-butler 10y agoThere is nothing preventing any former President for running for another elected office that is not in the line of succession. I think Andrew Johnson ran for the Senate while still POTUS if memory serves.
- vertex-four 10y agoBeing President doesn't tend to do wonders for public opinion, though - it's an incredibly public role and every decision is scrutinized to a degree higher than any other public office.
- newman314 10y agoI'm over her when she decided to endorse Hillary thereby implicitly endorsing Hillary's Wall Street connections. So much for defending against big banks. :(
- specialist 10y agoHuman affairs are a marathon, not a sprint. Pace yourself. Also, I've learned to embrace incrementalism and transactional politics (quid pro quo). Lastly, if you bring the heat, the targeted policy maker(s) will see the light. The color of their logo won't be a factor. Sanders' campaign, and massive following, absolutely moved Clinton to the left.
- newman314 10y agoIt moved her statements to the left (for now). I very much doubt that she's going to actually go through with things given her past history. Examples: TPP, gay marriage etc. One could try arguing that she has evolved but MANY see her as just flip-flopping to what seems politically expedient at that time. Hence the tremendous amount of distrust. Embrace incrementalism = let's make mediocre great again. Imagine that kind of mentality when it was announced that we were going to try to send someone to the Moon. "Let's shoot for the moon!" "Enh, let's just name an airport instead to build support"
- ZenoArrow 10y agoIf you want a principled presidential candidate on the left of the political spectrum, you could vote for Jill Stein (or hope that Clinton gets indicted by the FBI before the democratic convention so that Sanders can step in, but the chances of that are slim to none). Jill Stein has similar policy positions to Bernie Sanders, if the Sanders supporters realise this en masse she may have decent chance.
- Razengan 10y agoI suppose we can only hope to survive until government by A.I. happens. Preferably open-sourced.
- webkike 10y agoPretty sure Hillary's views are well aligned with a typical leftist agenda. I don't see her passing pro gun or anti abortion laws for example.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- sremani 10y agoThe Clintons are always associated with DLC (Democratic Leadership Council?), a centrist organization. Remember Bill Clinton is for all intents and purposes a Southern Democrat, so he is a close to a blue dog democratic president. Hillary Clinton luckily chose to be Senator of NY (which is a cold political move, esp. when you account for political polarization), she has moved to the Left when tides are that way. Hillary was a staunch centrist during Bush presidency including being very corporate friendly (and still is). Other than abortion rights, Hillary was all over in many issues, including crime, welfare, immigration etc. Her cold ambition fizzled in front of an aspirational candidacy of Obama and now, the D party moved to Left and Bernie pulled it to more Left, so she will play along with it. Hillary Clinton is architect of TPP in its current form, at it is politically expedient for her to deny it. The Clintons were always centrist, that is why Chelsea Clinton was on the board of IAC (pretty sure, its the last name, not her talents). The whole definition of Centrism esp. in a very ideological Political world, many times looks like Opportunism, and many Centrist leaders through out the world, ascend not with Philosophical fidelity but with carefully building a Personality following.
- iofj 10y agoI guess that means, Clinton = TPP comes into full force, regardless of what she says now. Would you agree ?
- chimeracoder 10y ago> Other than abortion rights, Hillary was all over in many issues, including crime, welfare, immigration etc The same statement is true about the Democratic party as a whole. They've been all over the place on those issues over the last two decades. Clinton may not be as liberal as you seem to want, but she pretty clearly has had a liberal track record compared to her fellow party members: https://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/hillary-clinton-was-liberal-hillary-clinton-is-liberal/ https://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/hillary-clinton-was-libe...
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- iLoch 10y agoI'm assuming you know him well personally, otherwise how could you make such a statement earnestly.
- ray9209 10y agoBased on what he says and how he acts?
- vonklaus 10y agoSeemed it was an opinion. Trump, a well known and documented public figure, has certainly had a much of his life documented in media as an entertainer, author and business executive.I think there is enough evidence to make a claim (either way) about public figures & their temperment without knowing them personally.
- flamedoge 10y agopro-pro-pro-pro-pro-pro-pro-pro... Stack Overflow Exception
- King-Aaron 10y agoThis, he's basically in the game of reactionary politics. Candidate A has X position, so he must take the Y position. Any 'policy' he has in the election process is nothing more than a popularity drive.
- markdown 10y agoDidn't she call it the "gold standard"? She wouldn't need to backflip, just stop telling the lies she's been telling during the elections.
- mozumder 10y agolol you actually believe a Republican would be against free trade? There's a reason he ran as a Republican in the first place.
- iLoch 10y agoTrump wants corporations to stay in the US. TPP allows corporations to sue the US for loss of profits in other countries IIRC, so that would mean TPP is indeed against Trump's interests.
- jedberg 10y agoHe did that because he had to pick a party. He could have just as easily run as a Democrat and used the same tactics with different talking points. He doesn't really alight with either party. But he's most certainly anti-free-trade. All of his business and money is in the US (mostly in real estate). It's in his best interest to artificially prop up US industry by shutting down inbound trade.
- mozumder 10y agoHe became a Republican because he is a corporatist. It is Republican orthodoxy to be against consumer and labor rights. He has absolutely no interest in abandoning the TPP, since, as a Republican, he is in favor of exporting US jobs. When dealing with Trump, it it important to ignore what he says, because he will literally lie 71 times in a single speech: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-fact-check_us_56fc375fe4b0daf53aee9175 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-fact-check_...
- rayiner 10y agoTrump may be a liar, but it's probably a miscalculation to think he has greater loyalty to the Republican Party than to himself. Trump is a real estate guy. His business is intrinsically tied to the US. He can't outsource hotel construction jobs to China. That makes being anti-globalization an easy path for him. Moreover, more capital sloshing around in the US instead of going overseas means lower interest rates for construction loans.
- CyberDildonics 10y agoTPP is not free trade
- e40 10y agoThey will. Certainly the two current presumptive nominees will.