Podesta: Clinton To Draw Differences With Obama If She Runs

[Purveyor]

By Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON Wed Jan 7, 2015 2:25pm EST

(Reuters) - Hillary Clinton will draw differences with President Barack Obama if she runs for the White House and Obama expects that, according to John Podesta, an adviser to the president and a potential campaign chairman for the former secretary of state.

Podesta, a former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton who is now counselor to Obama, said he would depart the White House next month.

"I'm probably going to leave in early February," he told Reuters in an interview. "Then I've got to figure out what I'm doing in life."

Figuring that out will depend largely on whether Clinton, a former senator and first lady, decides to run for president again, as she is expected to do. Podesta has been mentioned frequently as a likely chairman of her campaign.

"If she decides to run, I told her I'd do anything I can to help her," he said, adding it was "up to her" whether he served as chair.

more...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/07/us-usa-politics-podesta-idUSKBN0KG21520150107

[frylock]

1. hey, maybe she can beat Obama this time around

[AtomicKitten]

3. hillaryis44goddammit

[dsc]

2. Every Democrat will differ from Obama

otherwise they will be considered unable to be independent.

[AtomicKitten]

4. How'd that strategy work out fot Alison L. Grimes?

[dsc]

5. differ from doesn't mean saying idiotic things

Grimes would have lost no matter what she did quite likely but her statement that she refused to say who she voted for was plainly idiotic. No one is going to run as a clone of Obama, or Bill Clinton, or anyone else. People want politicians who are their own people on some level. The fact is Bernie Sanders, if he were to run, would differentiate himself from Obama. Elizabeth Warren, if she were to run, would differentiate herself from Obama. Devall Patrick, if he were to run, would differentiate himself from Obama despite how close they are personally. It is just what happens.

[AtomicKitten]

6. How about running against their Repub opponent

.... instead of against the incumbent Democratic president? I guarantee that will piss off and alienate Democrats that would otherwise be natural allies.

[dsc]

7. In primaries they can't just run against republicans

the whole point of a primary is deciding whose ideas the party wants to present to the electorate. If they do as you suggest then the primaries would literally be nothing but a popularity contest as all the candidates would be selling the same ideas to the electorate.

[AtomicKitten]

8. Forewarned is fair-warned.

[dsc]

12. to be clear here are some ways I want to see candidates differentiate themselves from Obama

I want to see candidates say in my administration no secretary of education will cheer a court decision which removes tenure from teachers. I want to see a candidate say under my administration we won't cut social security grand bargain or no.

[YvonneCa]

20. Same here. n/t

[still_one]

29. The point is you go after the differences with the republicans, NOT the Democrats.

[Yavin4]

36. How did that work out for Gore?

Running away from Clinton was THE dumbest political move of all time.

[dsc]

37. He gained 17 points and won his campaign

but other than that it was a crap strategy.

[Yavin4]

38. Given Clinton's record...

No war. Booming economy. A budget in surplus! Gore should have won 48 states! Bush I won easily in 1988 based on Regan's record, and we were in much worse shape.

Democrats love to stab each other in the back at every turn, and then wonder why they lose.

[blkmusclmachine]

9. Clinton runs to Obama's right. And loses in the General.

[Warren DeMontague]

27. One wonders what the "differences" will be. Probably some shit like "Obama hasn't been tough enough

with the 'problem' of medical marijuana."

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2014/06/when_it_comes_to_medical_marijuana_dnc_chair_debbie_wasserman_schultz_sure_sounds_like_a_republican.php

[joshcryer]

10. Hilarious.

Clinton is going to run on a "US is exceptional, stop shitting on ourselves" campaign. That necessarily means embracing Obama's policies.

[musicblind]

11. Pointing out differences does not mean running away from Obama.

It doesn't necessarily mean running to the right either.

Any candidate running for president after their party has held two terms, will need to show why she is still fresh. People like fresh. People like new. It doesn't mean she will be criticizing Obama or at least I hope it doesn't. I think Obama has done a great job.

But she needs to show them that she will be the first term of Hillary and not the third term of Obama or Bill for that matter.

[PragmaticLiberal]

24. "It doesn't mean she will be criticizing Obama or at least I hope it doesn't"

She already has...and Secretary Kerry as well.

I don't see why that will change....

[karynnj]

13. This looks more like the media stirring things up

The fact is that even a VP will say that he is not a clone of the sitting President. No matter how popular the President - they would want some differentiation, because without, there is almost a negative - lack of creativity, lack of bringing anything new to offer.

Here, the important thing may to be to react ONLY to things that HRC herself says or claims -- ie the comments on Syria, Iraq and ISIS.

At this point, it is obvious that ANYTHING that could remotely relate to Hillary Clinton is used as a way to either argue that she is great or that she compares badly to someone else. On one side -Note that Newsweek thought it necessary to point out that Clinton would not have spoken French -- as Kerry did yesterday. http://www.newsweek.com/after-paris-attack-kerrys-french-ties-dont-look-so-bad-297413 While a great gesture, this is hardly ground breaking diplomacy. On the other - Josh Rogin in Bloomsberg and the Chicago Tribune credited HRC with the opening to Cuba, suggesting that she pushed Obama to do so - ignoring that Obama was for that before HRC was.

On one side - suggesting a "deficit" when one really does not exist -- and the other is giving her far more credit for a foreign policy accomplishment than she should get. On Cuba, the credit is that she immediately supported what Obama had done AND that she had already gone on record as supporting opening of ties. In the general election, this is an issue where her position has already been fixed. However, it is Obama, the Pope and others working for Obama who did the heavy lifting of actually making a deal.

For those of us who strongly respect Obama, there will be points where this will invariably when we will feel angry or hurt when we feel she claims more credit than due, takes credit for everything seen to have worked and rejected any responsibility of anything that has not succeeded. I suspect that almost anyone running for President will claim to have had a more dominant role on good things than they actually had -- and that allies will back them in this. One really tough thing - especially when she is the nominee - is that people like Obama and his team will often have to bite their tongue and let claims lie -- that they disagree with.

Knowing that really tough things will happen -- at least on these vague, second hand stories, DU might be better advised to ignore what really is media manipulation and candidate placement.

[YvonneCa]

21. Great post, karynnj. n/t

[FBaggins]

14. No point in that statement coming out now

Yes... the President was a drag on many Democratic candidates in this most recent cycle... but many things have been improving and things are likely to continue to change in the coming year. There's no point in distancing yourself from him if you might want to tie yourself to him a year from now.

[hollowdweller]

15. That's fine with me.

However the important thing is the difference she will draw between her and the democrats, and Jeb Bush or whomever and the republicans.

If she spends all her time running against Obama she's doomed.

[NHDEMFORLIFE]

16. Gee, running away from Obama worked so well in the mid-terms

Pointing out differences with the incumbent is fine in the primary (as long as it is not a slash-and-burn type of stump speech). If Biden runs, even he would gently point out where he and the President differ.
But if the nominee decides to slash-and-burn, we get what we deserve.

[stevenleser]

17. Amazing how many can't see all the daylight between a clone of, and 100% opposition to, someone

There is a tremendous amount of room in between.

[YvonneCa]

22. Agree. She can define differences...

...without 'running away from' President Obama. And I hope she does.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

31. Yes, leaving Hillary plenty of room to triangulate & shift positions depending on which way the wind is blowing.

[stevenleser]

34. Thanks for demonstrating my premise about people who don't get it. nt

[Purveyor]

39. LOL. But you do? {{{chuckle}}} eom

[stevenleser]

41. Yup, {{{chuckle}}} eom

[Darb]

18. Just gotta say........

fuck him and the horse he rode in on.

He should stfu.

[marmar]

19. "He loves Citigroup. I love Goldman Sachs."

[craigmatic]

23. You don't run away from one of the most successful democrats in recent memory and still expect to

win. Ask Al Gore how this bullshit strategy works.

[still_one]

28. When she ran against Obama and said mccain was more qualified in foreign affairs than Obama, that

didn't work out too well for her

Here is exactly what she said:

"I think that I have a lifetime of experience that I will bring to the White House. I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience to the White House. And Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002."

[Warren DeMontague]

25. For instance, Hillary's got a Country Music song! TOP THAT, OBAMA!

And she has taken a bold position not just in the mealy-mouthed Obama fashion that The Bible is the best book ever, Hillary, in true policy wonk style, has directly addressed the pressing national issue of WHICH part of the Bible is! the! best!



The American voter CANT WAIT to hear her other important policy positions on other vital issues of national import, like whether the American flag is just "neat" or is it, in fact, "super-keen"!

[still_one]

26. If she goes that route then she will deservedly lose. How about drawing differences with the

republicans instead of Democrats, and if her advisors are telling her to draw differences between her and the President she will have more problems then with just the republicans

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

32. Seriously! Hillary is becoming a satire of herself. Can't we do better?

[olddots]

30. the media will try to devide us

Eom.

[peacebird]

33. It's not a media construct. Dems ARE divided on HRC. Some worship her, others despise her

that is just a fact.

[Purveyor]

40. Which is why she will never be elected to the Presidency. The Dems need unity

to occupy the White House. Without it, the numbers just aren't there for her...

[Yavin4]

35. Why do Democrats do this stupid shit?

Why? You cannot run away from Obama. Just like Gore in 2000 could not run away from Clinton. It's the dumbest fucking strategy. The voters are going to tie you to Obama whether you like it or not.

All this strategy does is piss off Dem voters and lower turnout.

[DFW]

42. Considering what Obama has accomplished despite all the shit thrown at him

I'd say Hillary would be well advised to point out that the only thing she would do differently would be to have been a Senator from New York instead of Illinois and to have a different skin pigmentation.

What else is she going to do that would be such a departure from Obama's policies? Join Bonehead in his tanning salon?

[bigwillq]

43. Ha