Thread: Clinton: Agenda will be clear from day one

She's stating that the border is secure enough to make another amnesty attempt.
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Clinton: Agenda will be clear from day one
Planning for victory not 'presumptuous'

By SARAH LIEBOWITZ
Monitor staff December 24. 2007 12:35AM

For Hillary Clinton, it's none too soon to begin contemplating her potential first days in the Oval Office. "I don't think it's presumptuous; I think that it is sensible to say I intend to be elected president, I'm going to run a winning campaign against the Republicans, and here are some of the things I'm going to do on day one, day two, day three," Clinton said in an interview with Monitor editors and reporters Friday.

"I don't think there's enough time between the election and the inauguration to understand what the Bush administration has done to our government. We have to start now."

On her list: Out with the "gag rule," which bars the federal government from giving money to international family-planning groups that provide abortion counseling or help women receive abortions. And out with what Clinton described as President Bush-era damage to environmental regulations.

On the legislative front, Clinton would immediately ask Congress to send two Bush-vetoed bills to her desk for her signature: one to increase funding for embryonic stem-cell research, the other to expand a children's health insurance program.

"I think a lot of presidencies get off to a slow start because you win, you've invested everything in the election, and then you lift your head up and you look around, and there will be a lot of surprises with an administration of the opposite party," said Clinton, a Democrat. Many of Clinton's planned early-day changes - such as reversing "a lot of the war on science that the Bush administration has conducted" - can occur through executive orders, she added.

If Clinton wins her party's nomination, expect to hear far more about her governing priorities, especially those she believes can be swiftly enacted: "I think making that a theme of my general election campaign will really send the message that I am ready to govern, I am ready to lead on day one," she said.

'A job to do'

In a wide-ranging interview that touched on gender, her New York Senate campaigns and the role her husband would play in a potential second Clinton administration (confidant and goodwill ambassador, she said), Clinton stressed her desire to work with Republicans and rejected characterizations of herself as polarizing or divisive.

"Among the Republicans there was a concern that when I got to the Senate I wouldn't talk to them, I wouldn't work with them," Clinton said. "Lindsey Graham was the impeachment manager against (President) Bill (Clinton), and people thought that I would snub him or something. How ridiculous. We have a job to do."

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama wouldn't face snubbing, either, she said. Asked whether Clinton would hold Obama's decision to challenge her in the primary against him, she said no, before proceeding to recount her commitment to bipartisan governing.

"I think politics is about addition, not subtraction," she said.

But as she does on the campaign trail - Clinton's stump speech includes versions of the line "You have to find common ground, but you also have to stand your ground" - Clinton also emphasized her willingness to forgo bipartisanship to defend her legislative priorities.

"Some of the fights in the '90s were important fights," she said. "I think standing up against Newt Gingrich to get the right kind of welfare reform was the right thing to do.

"I want to make the changes we have to make, and I think I know very well how to do that," Clinton added. "But sometimes that's not possible. And you know, if I take on immigration, there are people who have their own television programs who are going to call me all kinds of things, and that may be 'polarizing.' But not to take it on would be irresponsible."

Same-sex unions

On several culturally divisive issues, Clinton urged cautious change, not dramatic upheaval.

Asked whether she would repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act - which Bill Clinton signed into law in 1996 - Clinton said no. Rather, she said, she'd sign a repeal of sections two and three of the law. As it stands, the third section limits marriage to heterosexual couples in matters of federal law, so same-sex couples are denied the federal benefits afforded heterosexual married couples.

Clinton said she would repeal the prohibition on federal benefits, a change that would have particular relevance for New Hampshire: On Jan. 1, New Hampshire will become the fourth state to adopt civil unions. Massachusetts allows same-sex marriages.

The second section of the law allows states to ignore civil unions or same-sex marriages performed in any other state. States can, however, choose to recognize those relationships - New Hampshire's civil unions bill, for example, will also recognize same-sex partnerships granted elsewhere. "I would say, 'Look, we're going to leave it to the states, but we're going to recognize the right of states, in their own legal processes, to decide whether they want to recognize the relationship of another state,' " Clinton said.

Clinton's argument against a full repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act was in part a political one. The law staved off a Republican attempt to completely bar same-sex marriage, she said. "It may be something that in a few years is no longer necessary. . . . But right now I think it helps to prevent this from becoming another mean-spirited effort to enshrine discrimination in the Constitution."

Death penalty, immigration

When it comes to the death penalty, Clinton offered measured support. While the punishment is appropriate in limited circumstances, she said, safeguards in many states are "woefully inadequate."

Clinton pointed to the case of Timothy McVeigh, who received the death penalty after being convicted of bombing an Oklahoma City federal office building. McVeigh "had excellent legal help, first-rate lawyers," she said. "So we can do it right, if it's a high-profile case. But all too often, a lot of the cases don't demand that kind of attention and there frankly isn't the sort of procedural safeguarding that cases like that should have."

As for immigration, which has become a flashpoint in the Republican presidential contest, Clinton holds out hope for a bill that combines border security with an earned path to legalization for those illegal immigrants already here. Clinton chalked up the failure earlier this year of a Bush-backed immigration compromise to the president's political ineffectiveness and the desire of Republican senators to create a "wedge issue" for next year's elections.

The failed plan included an employer-verification system and a path to legalization for some illegal immigrants. Although it had the support of Arizona Sen. John McCain and other prominent party members, many Republicans seized on the plan as too lax on border security and said it would provide amnesty to those who illegally entered the country.

"I argued vociferously within my caucus that we should champion border security first," Clinton said. Now, she said, "I think we're going to be in an actually stronger position, because we've done some things now along the border that we haven't done before."

The issue of immigration arises with far more frequency on the campaign trail in Iowa than in New Hampshire, Clinton said. In the 1990s, when Clinton traveled the nation, she encountered far less anxiety about immigration. The current emotion, she said, "is rooted in the changed sense of economic well-being that Americans feel."

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs ... 0/0/NEWS04

She scares the crap out of me. Her socialistic ideas are so harmful to this country and her pathway to citizenship is crap. Her health care policies are crap to. I know alot of people think that socialized medicine is wonderful because they will be covered. HOwever, it will be much more expensive in the long run and long waits at the Drs office especially for much needed operations. and also because it will be SOCIALIZED. That is pretty scary for a democracy. You all know that when the federal government is involved they will screw it up.

Another CFR Member from the fringe Left..... Bush is Corrupt to the Bone... but no one scares me like this woman

In the 1990s, when Clinton traveled the nation, she encountered far less anxiety about immigration. The current emotion, she said, "is rooted in the changed sense of economic well-being that Americans feel."

Hillary reduced illegal immigration to an 'anxiety and emotional problem'. Her 'cure'--amnesty for the illegals and prozac for citizens--so they no longer care--through her socialized medical health care plan.

"All Americans must vote Democrat," stated Jihad Jaara, an exiled member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group

This crazy socialist woman will take the money from the person who earned it and give it to those who are on the dole. I hope enough Americans are smart enough to knock this communist leaning nut out of the presidential race during the primaries. I can't take another year of her crap!!

This broad is clearly insane!!!