The 9 Times Hillary Clinton Has Taken a Stand Since 2013

TIME Politics 2016 Election Hillary Clinton Hillary Clinton gazes pensively into the distance at Iowa Senator Tom Harken'a annual Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa on September 14, 2014. Brooks KraftCorbis for TIME

Like other presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton had an opinion on just about everything in 2008. How to reform the U.S. health care system? Check. What to do about climate change? Check. Even minor issues like how to lower the price of gas required her to come up with a plan.

But when she became Secretary of State, Clinton followed tradition and kept her opinions to herself, especially on domestic policy. And since leaving Foggy Bottom in 2013, shes mostly avoided specifics.

She says shes in favor of protecting the environment, for example, but has yet to stake out her position on fracking or the Keystone XL pipeline. She says shes against eliminating net neutrality, but has yet to say what, exactly, the government ought to do to protect it. And while shes talked a big game about U.S. military engagement abroad, its unclear how her positions on, say, Ukraine or Iraq would differ from those of President Obama.

That ambiguity is understandable. She doesnt hold public office. Shes not officially on the ballot. And committing to a position publicly limits her future options, politically. But given how many times she hasnt taken a position on the issue of the day, its worth noting the handful of times she has.

Heres a look at the nine most substantive policy positions Clinton has staked out since stepping down as Secretary of State.

1) The U.S. needs serious immigration reform. When President Obama announced his controversial executive order in November shielding up to five million undocumented immigrants, Clinton tweeted her approval within minutes, and then followed up with a statement calling for immediate, bipartisan and comprehensive immigration that would focus finite resources on deporting felons rather than families.

2) The U.S. should have armed the rebels in Syria. In an interview with the Atlantics Jeffrey Goldberg in August, Clinton blamed the rise of the so-called Islamic State, or ISIS, on the U.S. not doing enough to support moderate rebels when the Syrian civil war first broke out. The failure to help build up a credible fighting force of the people who were the originators of the protests against Assad there were Islamists, there were secularists, there was everything in the middle the failure to do that left a big vacuum, which the jihadists have now filled, she said. That said, Clintons ideas on how to rout ISIS now appear to be more or less the same as Obamas.

3) Gay people should be allowed to marry. In March 2013, Clinton formally announced in her support for gay marriage, marking a major reversal of the position shed held for decades. Her rivals criticized her for jumping on the bandwagon only after the issue of gay marriage had become widely acceptable, but she defended herself as a thinking human who is allowed to evolve on issues.

4) Americans shouldnt torture people. At a human rights awards dinner in December, Clinton made her first public comments about torture since the Senate released its controversial report on the issue earlier this month. She said unequivocally that she is against illegal renditions and brutal interrogation methods. The U.S. should never condone or practice torture anywhere in the world, she said.

Continue reading here:
The 9 Times Hillary Clinton Has Taken a Stand Since 2013

Related Posts

Comments are closed.