Hillary Clinton's Practical Idealism: I like It

The more I think about her comments to Black Lives Matter the more I like them. I disagree totally with those who don't.

"In her videotaped exchange with the Black Lives Matter activists — which was posted in two parts by GOOD Magazine and is well worth watching in full — Clinton made three particularly revealing points:

"Activists should unite around a specific policy agenda: "What you’re doing as activists and as people who are constantly raising these issues is really important. So I applaud and thank you for that. I really do. Because we can’t get change unless there’s constant pressure. But now, the next step — so, you know, part of you need to keep the pressure on, and part of you need to figure out, what do we do now? How are we going to do it? ... There has to be a reckoning. I agree with that. But I also think there has to be some positive vision and plan that you can move people toward."

"We should focus on changing laws, not just hearts: "Look, I don't believe you change hearts. I believe you change laws, you change allocation of resources, you change the way systems operate. You're not going to change every heart. You're not. But at the end of the day, we can do a whole lot to change some hearts and change some systems and create more opportunities for people who deserve to have them, to live up to their own God-given potential."

"Ideas for change need to be sold to the American people: "The next question by people who are on the sidelines, which is the vast majority of Americans, is, ‘So, what do you want me to do about it? What am I supposed to do about it?’ That’s what I’m trying to put together in a way that I can explain it and I can sell it, because in politics if you can't explain it and you can't sell it, it stays on the shelf."
http://www.vox.com/2015/8/19/9174077/hillary-clinton-black-lives-matter

"I totally agree with her. This was Al Gore's 2000 slogan too-practical idealism-and while many didn't like it I thought it was exactly right. You have to have an agenda or it's kind of so what among the people she referenced on the sidelines."

"Deep in her bones, Clinton is a pragmatist. She has little patience for lofty ideals if they're not paired with achievable, specific next steps for policy change. It's an approach that has long animated her politics — from college and law school to the 2008 presidential campaign, she's continually argued that pragmatism is crucial to achieving progressive change. If you want to actually help people and solve problems, she says, you have to focus on practicalities."

"Yet her critics fear that her approach could merely be a cloak for self-advancement — a typical politician's excuse for not doing enough, for taking only half-measures, or for selling out when deeper change is needed."

"For Clinton's campaign to benefit from an enthusiastic and committed left, she'll have to convince them that they're wrong."

"But that's just it-they complain about 'not doing enough' but when BLM is asked specifically what they want done they take on the Zizekean feminine position in an argument 'Well if you don't know I'm certainly not going to tell you.'"

http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-only-ones-bogged-down-with.html

What activists like BLM never understand is that they see their agenda as one-dimensional. Activists only care about their issue-they have a tendency to the single issue syndrome. 

http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/08/lawrence-lessigs-single-issue-campaign.html

But a candidate in office has a number of issues-let alone someone serving in office. The classic example of this is those involved in environmental activism don't care about how their demands effect any other issues but the President has to balance their legitimate concerns with the legitimate concerns about the economy. 

It's often not a simple yes or no.

http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/07/hillary-and-keystone-litmus-test-fallacy.html

I like Hillary's focus on getting things done. If anything I like it better than President Obama's talk of hope and change-as much as you know I love the President. Hope and Change when you get right to it is vague. What does it mean?

Obama eventually had to admit that talk of a post-partisan world was just a little premature.

But I guess a lot of people prefer vague talk of a post-partisan world to actually getting the change you want to see.

It's as if activists just like to tell you what you're doing wrong-what you're doing right or what you could do right has no interest to them.