dagblog - Comments for "How can black people trust Hillary Clinton after the 2008 campaign?"

There is question about how

rmrd0000 — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 17:33:21 +0000

In reply to "You see the Clintons as the

There is question about how much oversight of the VA Sanders conducted as Chair of the Senate committee responsible for the VA

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/05/the-veterans-scandal-on...

A CNN host accused Sanders of sounding like a lawyer for the VA rather then someone charged with oversight

http://www.mrc.org/biasalerts/cnn-hounds-bernie-sanders-va-scandal-you-s...

Black activists in Vermont say that they were invisible to Bernie Sanders. Sanders was blind to issues of race.

http://www.salon.com/2016/02/17/black_activists_in_vermont_complain_they...

I was accusing Cornel West of

rmrd0000 — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 17:23:13 +0000

In reply to Thanks rmrd. I don't think

I was accusing Cornel West of being condescending. The others seem to think that black remain frozen in a 2008 time trap. The situation in 2016 is different.

Edit to add

Sanders proposed a challenger to Obama's reelection, that is more than the simple disagreements with Obama that he claims in interviews.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/the-obama-campaign-remembers-2012-very...

Hal, your article says $169

PeraclesPlease — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 17:11:25 +0000

In reply to "You see the Clintons as the

Hal, your article says $169 million or roughly $500k per community center. Maybe (probably) these are useful, but spendwise theyre such a drop in the ocean of trillion dollar health care.

Thanks rmrd. I don't think

HSG — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 17:02:54 +0000

In reply to It is not just Hal. Cornel

Thanks rmrd. I don't think you have accused me of being condescending (although I could do without the "it's not just Hal"). If I am, please call me out. It seems we disagree vehemently on whether Hillary Clinton would be a good President but to me you have not "crossed the line". If I "cross the line", please advise/explain. For the record, I have not "question[ed] the intelligence" of anybody who has decided to support Clinton in this election. I do question the decision of course.

"You see the Clintons as the

HSG — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 16:37:03 +0000

In reply to Your question points out our

"You see the Clintons as the problem.I see the GOP and their front runners as bigger problems[.]"

I interpret this to mean we both see the Clintons as part of the problem and the GOP as bigger problems. If this is what you mean, we agree.

"The Clintons are nowhere near the top of my list of dangers facing the black community. It is telling that they are your focus."

I am focusing on the Clintons now because Hillary is running for President and for the reasons I have set out ad nauseum I believe she would be a much worse President for all Americans than Bernie Sanders. Regarding the Republican candidates, they are all loathsome.

"Given the fact that Sanders has been an ineffective Senator, why should I trust him to be able to do anything."

We obviously disagree on whether Sanders has accomplished anything. I have listed various successes here on several occasions but never very prominently. So here goes again:

-------------

In 2015, he won the Veterans of Foreign Wars award for best member of Congress. Here's the announcement:

With eight years on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee — two of them as chairman — it is no understatement to say that Senator Sanders has taken care of wounded, ill and injured veterans and their surviving family members,” said Stroud. “He has been a commanding voice against changing the COLA calculations for disabled veterans, for the proper care and treatment of women veterans, homeless veterans, for better employment opportunities and improved access to mental health programs, as well as increased congressional oversight of the VA claims processing transformation,” he said.

“And when the VA imploded last year, he was the lead negotiator for the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act, which the president signed into law last summer,” said the VFW national commander. “The VA still has an uphill climb to fix what’s broken, to hold employees appropriately accountable, and to restore the faith of veterans in their VA, but veterans everywhere should be proud and comforted to know that this United States senator has their back in Congress.”

Given how much Sanders talks about single-payer healthcare, you'd think he played at least some role when the Affordable Care Act was being legislated. He did. As Common Dreams noted on December 19, 2009:

A $10 billion investment in community health centers, expected to go to $14 billion when Congress completes work on health care reform legislation, was included in a final series of changes to the Senate bill unveiled today.

The provision, which would provide primary care for 25 million more Americans, was requested by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

It turns out these centers have been so important to the success of the program, President Obama announced last year that the opening of "hundreds [more] community health centers in underserved areas nationwide with funding from the Affordable Care Act."

These days, progressive legislators don't always have the opportunity to make a significant mark since passing laws that benefit the public has become increasingly tricky given the influence of big money over the system. Still Sanders has obviously made a difference for veterans and communities without adequate numbers of healthcare providers. When he was Mayor of Burlington in 80s, he pushed successfully a number of initiatives that made the city a better place to live for rich and poor alike. The Nation Magazine details these in What Kind of Mayor was Bernie Sanders. Here are just a few highlights:

[In order to prevent low-income housing from being converted to more expensive condos,] Sanders. . . worked with the state government and Senator Patrick Leahy to get the $12 million needed to purchase and rehabilitate the buildings. The city allocated funds to help the tenants hire an organizer, form the Northgate Residents Association, and start the process of converting the complex to resident ownership. Today, Northgate Apartments is owned by the tenants and has long-term restrictions to keep the buildings affordable for working families.

. . .

Thanks to the enduring influence of the progressive climate that Sanders and his allies helped to create in Burlington, the city’s largest housing development is now resident-owned, its largest supermarket is a consumer-owned cooperative, one of its largest private employers is worker-owned, and most of its people-oriented waterfront is publicly owned. Its publicly owned utility, the Burlington Electric Department, recently announced that Burlington is the first American city of any decent size to run entirely on renewable electricity.

. . .

Thanks to Sanders, the Burlington waterfront now has a community boathouse and other facilities for small boats. There’s also a sailing center and science center, a fishing pier, an eight-mile bike path, acres of parkland, and public beaches. The commercial development is modest and small-scale. On May 26, Sanders kicked off his presidential campaign with a rally at Waterfront Park.

. . .

Under Sanders, Burlington became a magnet for attracting and incubating locally owned businesses, many of which expanded into large enterprises. Burton, the nation’s largest snowboard company, has its headquarters (as well as a snowboard museum) in Burlington.

It is not just Hal. Cornel

rmrd0000 — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 16:29:10 +0000

In reply to Gee, I guess those black

It is not just Hal. Cornel West is very condescending when it comes to blacks who disagree with his view of the world. The President, Al Sharpton, Michael Eric Dyson, and Melissa Harris-Perry have all felt West's verbal venom. Mr Rucker,, Michelle Alexander, and others seem to believe that blacks are stupid. Blacks are so dumb that they cannot remember the events leading up to the election of the first black President. None of the writers who question the intelligence of the black community deal with the fact that Sanders wanted someone to oppose Obama's reelection.Why should blacks trust Sanders?

Uh, Congrssman Lewis probably

PeraclesPlease — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 16:06:33 +0000

In reply to I can understand someone not

Uh, Congrssman Lewis probably doesnt know the Theory of Constraints, Lean Manufacturing, offshore cluster behavior and conversational Chinese. He aint *that* smart. What was the question again?

Easy for you to be complacent

PeraclesPlease — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 16:00:42 +0000

In reply to Gee, I guess those black

Easy for you to be complacent sitting in your armchair, but we're out here on the front lines of the Blog Wars!!! Take no prisoners. It's a cruel heartless business, but someone's gotta do it.

Hallo Bruce!!!

armchair guerrilla — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 15:49:28 +0000

In reply to I can understand someone not

Hallo Bruce!!!

Gee, I guess those black

armchair guerrilla — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 15:48:45 +0000

In reply to How can black people trust Hillary Clinton after the 2008 campaign?

Gee, I guess those black folks really don't know what's good for them. Apparently, this even includes the POTUS. Here is what he had to say recently about that racist campaign Hillary ran in 2008:

Well, here's my view: that whoever the nominee is is going to need the other person's supporters. And I think it is entirely legitimate to draw sharp contrasts where there are contrasts and it is important, however, to maintain a tone in which people feel as if you’re playing fair. And I think Hillary has done that so far, and I think that the truth is in 2007 and 2008, sometimes my supporters and my staff, I think, got too huffy about what were legitimate questions she was raising. And, you know, there were times where I think the media probably was a little unfair to her and tilted a little my way in the — in calling her out when she was tough and not calling some of our folks out as much when we were tough in ads.

With messengers like Hal telling black folks why they're being duped, is it any wonder Bernie has failed to connect?