Hillary’s Voice

Between the media bias and some of the Obama campaign’s tactics, I’ve often found myself countering others’ statements — which often involves “negatives.” This is odd, because I’m far more pro-Hillary than I am anti-Barack.

That said, I thought I’d share some of the reasons that I like and support Hillary.

Long before she was America’s first lady, Hillary worked to help under-represented citizens. In the ’60s, she fought for civil rights — even brought black friends to a then-segregated church.

With a Yale law degree in hand, she could have easily gone straight into lucrative legal work.

Instead, she spent most of the ’70s in public service: she worked for the Children’s Defense Fund and was one of the staff attorneys that helped investigate the Watergate scandal. Before that decade closed, she was a law professor and director of a legal aid clinic that helped people who couldn’t afford lawyers.

That’s more public service than many people perform in a lifetime. From there, she did some corporate and private legal work, which I don’t begrudge her, because it made her more well rounded.

I don’t know much about Hillary’s tenure as First Lady of Arkansas. I do know that she was an active first lady in Washington, and she used those eight years to learn about policy and process.

Whether or not she faced sniper fire in Kosovo (or anywhere else), Hillary did visit many nations and helped her husband promote worldwide good will toward America.

Much of the world actually liked America during the Clinton years, and our next president will have to rebuild the good will that George Bush managed to crush.

Hillary tried to reform our health care system in the early ’90s — if she’d been successful, her efforts might have prevented the current crisis. But the political climate was unfriendly, and poor health care coverage was not on most Americans’ radars because it hadn’t reached crisis proportions.

Though Hillary’s efforts were resisted, she managed to help increase health care for children a few years later — without even having a vote in Congress. Yes, that impresses me.

Since joining the Senate, Hillary has worked with Republicans — though some of those people had treated her family badly just a few years earlier. That’s what I call putting aside the personal and getting down to business.

Hillary understands the many flaws of President Bush’s economic policies, and I’m confident that she will help our nation recover. Check out her detailed explanations and plans here.

Hillary publicly acknowledged regret for her 2002 Iraq war vote. It’s refreshing to hear a politician admit regrets — after seven years of a president who stubbornly refuses to admit (and learn from) errors and failures.

Hillary has actively served on the Senate Armed Services committee and managed to impress enough flag-rank military officers that 34 of them have endorsed her candidacy.

Hillary’s Senate committee assignments encompass a broad array of issues — including education, labor, pensions, the environment, and health — which gives her a broad policy foundation.

Last month, Hillary sponsored a bill to change how we use and monitor private defense contractors — many of whom have greatly profited at the expense of us taxpayers.

I can’t cover it all here, so I’ll list some of Hillary’s Senate votes that I liked (not that I agree with all of her votes — I’ve yet to find a politician with whose goals or votes I completely agree).

Some of Sen. Clinton’s Votes (from Project Vote Smart)

Jobs & Benefits:

- Voted to increase minimum wage (Jun ‘06)

- Voted to stop tax breaks for companies that move jobs overseas (Mar ‘05)

- Voted to extend unemployment benefits for 13 weeks (May ‘04)

- Voted to protect workers’ pensions (Apr ‘04)

Homeland Security:

- Voted to implement 9/11 Commission recommendations (Jul ‘07)

- Voted to restore Homeland Security grants that Bush cut (Mar ‘05)

National Debt:

- Voted against increasing limit of national debt (Mar ‘06)

Health Care:

-Voted to expand SCHIP (Sep ‘07)

-Voted to fund stem-cell research (Jul ‘06)

-Voted against Medicare prescription drug act (Senate Roll call) (Nov ‘03)

Investor Protection & Corporate Fraud:

- Voted to increase SEC funding (Jul ‘02)

Elections & Campaign Finance

- Voted to require uniform voting procedures (Apr ‘02)

- Voted for campaign-finance reforms (Apr ‘01)

Education:

-Voted to stop lenders from scamming taxpayers (Jul ‘07)

-Voted to increase grants for needy college students (Oct ‘05)

Energy & Climate:

- Voted for alternative-energy funding (Jun ‘07)

- Voted against EPA’s loose standards on mercury emissions (Sep ‘05)

- Voted to decrease dependence on foreign oil (Jun ‘05)

- Voted for research on hydrogen cars (Jun ‘03)

- Voted to prevent oil drilling at ANWR (Mar ‘03)

Taxes:

- Voted to increase child tax credit (Sep ‘04)

- Voted against taxing the Internet (Apr ‘04)

Military, Wars & Contractor Fraud

- Voted for rest periods for troops in Iraq & Afghanistan (Sep ‘07)

- Voted to set up time lines for troop withdrawal from Iraq (Mar ‘07)

- Voted to investigate contractor fraud in Iraq & Afghanistan (Nov ‘05)

- Voted to increase veterans’ health care funding (Nov ‘05)

- Voted for habeas corpus for Guantanamo detainees (Nov ‘05)

Executive Branch Appointees

- Voted for “No Confidence” re: Attorney General Gonzales (Jun ‘07)

- Voted against confirming Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito (Jan ‘06)

- Voted against confirming Supreme Court Justice John Roberts (Sep ‘05)

- Voted against confirming Gonzales as Attorney General (Feb ‘05)

- Voted against confirming Ashcroft as Attorney General (Feb ‘01)

- Voted against confirming Gale Norton as Energy Sec. (Jan ‘01)