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Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Flint Water Response Shows the Case for HRC in a Nutshell

Great post by Amanda Terkel from Huff Post on difference between Hillary and Bernie.

"Flint Water Response Perfectly Captures The Difference Between Bernie Sanders And Hillary Clinton."

"Flint's mayor endorsed Clinton on Tuesday."

"On Saturday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called on Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) to resign over the lead poisoning crisis in Flint."

"Three days later, Snyder remains in office, and Sanders has moved on after generating a fair amount of media attention."

"On Thursday, Hillary Clinton went on national television and chastised Snyder for refusing to ask for federal assistance in order to help the affected residents."

"Two hours after that interview aired on "The Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC,the governor did just that."

"Clinton had also already dispatched two of her top aides -- including one with years of experience working for a Michigan senator -- to the state to assist Flint Mayor Karen Weaver (D) with whatever she needed."

"The different approaches are emblematic of the ways the two Democratic presidential candidates respond to problems -- and would perhaps continue to do so if they win the presidency. Sanders goes big, not always worrying about whether what he's proposing is politically realistic. Clinton, meanwhile, focuses on the pragmatic instead of the aspirational, using her experience as a guide to what can get done."

"As far as what Hillary Clinton has done, she has actually been the only -- the only -- candidate, whether we're talking Democratic or Republican, to reach out and talk with us about, 'What can I do? What kind of help do you need?'" Weaver said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-flint_us_569e66c3e4b04c8137617f05?1tgfogvi=

Yes. Bernie is the aspirational choice, Hillary the pragmatic, incrementalist.

The fight in the party is to see which side wins. How many Democrats will decide that what matters are fine aspirations, with the question of whether they can even get done is irrelevant. 

In Maine the Emoprogs gave their state Paul Lapage twice. We'll see is they destroy the Dems chances this time as well. 

Yet Rachel Maddow last night declared that Bernie 'went even further' by calling for the Governor to step down.

The difference though is that Bernie's gesture-which he only made after HRC had already mentioned  Flynt-didn't accomplish anything. Simply demanding someone step down isn't leadership. 

The Mayor of Flynt wasn't impressed:

"The former secretary of state's approach has won over Weaver, who came out and endorsed Clinton during a conference call with reporters Tuesday morning."

"Weaver didn't seem particularly impressed with Sanders' comments Tuesday, telling reporters, "A lot of people said the governor should step down."

So this is the choice for Dems. Do we want to push forward the Obama agenda or simply do the aspirational thing?



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