Looks like it’s gonna be a second Clinton in the White House. This time, though, I’m confident that, given all, President-Hopeful (or To Be) Hillary Rodham Clinton will do it right. That is, much better than her husband, who started out O.K. and then became one of the Presidents in the Reagan Revolution. Yes, a supposedly progressive Democrat. A shame. But forget that now that we’re moving forward.
President HRC can be so much more effective than Bill now that the following governing tools are at her disposal. Our first female president has the capacity to transform the United States as a civil nation that does not harm “others.” O.K., we will be seen as harming others, but I mean harming our own citizens — U.S. citizens — and anyone living in our nation — U.S. visitors, including those here with papers or not.
I wrote about these tools in Out of Many, One: Obama and the Third American Political Tradition. The tools are the same, though they could be strengthened and modified for her to serve as tools on “steroids.” That is, Obama already weathered all the complaints when he got any traction in governing with these tools. More importantly, Obama had NO choice. It was the GOP plan all along to obstruct, sabotage, delay, and mislead the public — from day one. He was never going to get anyone to the table, though trying to was not naive, it was smart (more on another blog).
How President HRC can use these tools are in my book. So you don’t have to look them up, I’m rolling out a complimentary blog, iRevoltblog, on WordPress. Take a look after HRC’s election.
Meanwhile, here are all the tools in her arsenal of reform:
• qui tam,
• class action,
• federal rulemaking (and any form of executive action),
• amending existing legislation,
• increasing social-stake participation of public-citizen groups,
• amending existing legislation that requires authorization,
• redirecting social programs that are federalist,
• obviously, appointing all the “right” or progressive bureaucrats, White House counselors, cabinet members, international counselors (including ambassadors), and federal-court judges.
And I leave the best for last:
• As the right worries rightly, President HRC will nominate (and hopefully the Senate will confirm) at least anywhere from one to three Supreme Court justices in her first term. If the Senate does its job, this alone means we will have a more successful nation.
Stay tuned.
Ruth Frick O'Brien 