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The Last of a Dying Breed: the 2016 Referendum on Clintonism

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The Last of a Dying Breed: the 2016 Referendum on Clintonism The Last of a Dying Breed: The 2016 Referendum on Clintonism Marcus Montgomery March 29, 2017 The Last of a Dying Breed: The 2016 Referendum on Clintonism Marcus Montgomery For many young voters, the Democratic Party’s political scene in the early 1990s when he nomination of Hillary Clinton for the US unseated then-President George H.W. Bush. In presidency in 2016 seemed surprising, the political climate of the time, Democrats considering she was a problematic candidate at appeared to be lost in the woods with no best. Bedeviled by record-low trustworthiness, discernible path to relevance. In that era, they limited relatability, and a host of questions were perceived as advocates of big government, about her judgment, no major party ever wild spending, and relaxed treatment of nominated such an unpopular candidate—that criminals and, in the post-Reagan years, that is, until the Republicans nominated Donald was not a Democratic Party that would see any Trump. In addition to her perceived faults, the success in the ballot box. Then-candidate Bill fact that she seemed preordained for the Clinton demonstrated a rare aptitude for co- nomination by the establishment bloc of the opting Republican talking points and party was frustrating to the liberal populists presenting himself as a Democrat who would and more progressive members of the party. To govern moderately. He built a base of support the political neophytes who came of age during on a coalition of centrists who became known as or after the former secretary of state’s first “New Democrats” and, with his electoral presidential bid, her unsuitability for office and success, appeared to single-handedly reposition the intraparty rejection of her candidacy the Democratic Party for years of political probably raise a host of questions about why the success. Democratic Party and Democratic National Committee (DNC) poured massive resources Domestic and International Policies into propelling her to the White House. Once in office, Clinton did, in fact, govern The Democrats’ seeming infatuation with the moderately, appealing to the centrist coalition— former senator and secretary of state originated even if often alienating members of his own from a place of nostalgia. For the better part of a party—that earned him the election. quarter century, both Hillary and Bill Clinton Domestically, Clinton pulled the Democratic were the fulcrum of the Democratic Party’s Party toward the center on a host of issues. He ethos. This working political ideology— oversaw a time of fiscal responsibility eponymously named Clintonism—was the culminating in a balanced budget, a level of basis for years of electoral strategy and a change deregulation that is atypical of traditional in approach to international affairs from the Democratic values, and the passage of major conservative presidents of the 1980s and early free-trade agreements. The president also 1990s. ushered in welfare and criminal justice reforms, which appeased Republicans as well as more The Rise of Clintonism conservative Democrats. Admittedly, President Clinton stumbled out of the gate in the field of While Hillary Clinton represented the national foreign policy. He bungled early contemporary nature of Clintonism, the responses to crises in Somalia, Rwanda, and ideology originated from the successes of her Haiti, but he eventually found his footing and husband, former President Bill Clinton. Bill honed in on a doctrine for his administration’s Clinton was a relative newcomer to the national foreign policy. He would prioritize 1 Arab Center Washington DC March 2017 “engagement and enlargement,” meaning the To say Hillary Clinton simply regurgitated the United States embraced internationalism, talking points of her husband’s strain of engaged the world diplomatically, and Clintonism would not be fair; fundamentally, advocated the free flow of goods and capital however, they shared the same vision and many and, through similar means, empowered the of the same ideals. To be sure, she was growth and flourishing of free, democratic reflexively more hawkish on the use of military societies across the globe. At the crux of these force and more progressive on issues like health strategies was the idea that the United States care reform, but in general, she was capable of was an “indispensable” nation. compromising if it meant securing a strong deal. Unfortunately for her, it was during her time in Pressure Builds on Hillary’s Clintonism office that the allure and viability of Clintonism as a working political ideology began to As President Clinton’s tenure as commander in diminish. The downfall began in 2008 as she ran chief concluded, the Democratic Party fully against then-Senator Barack Obama in the embraced Clintonism as its modus operandi. In Democratic presidential primaries. Like her the two succeeding election cycles, former Vice husband, she intended to garner the support of President Al Gore and Senator John Kerry (D- the New Democrat coalition, even if that meant Massachusetts) won the Democratic leaving aside the more progressive factions of presidential nominations, in part, through their her own party. attempts to emulate Bill Clinton’s electoral tactics. In the early 2000s, New Democrats were In Barack Obama, Senator Clinton faced a breed still a valuable voting bloc, so the two nominees of Democrat in many ways similar to, yet took some steps to position themselves to the different from, Bill Clinton. Obama was equally right of the party’s more progressive members. as young, unproven, and charismatic as Bill was Although they were unsuccessful in the a decade and a half earlier, but unlike former national elections, this did not deter all down- President Clinton, Obama would blatantly ballot Democrats from embracing similar tactics disregard the white, middle class voters who in races across the country. At the same time, were the backbone of the New Democrat the cofounder of Clintonism was transitioning coalition. Also, Obama openly repudiated the from first lady to junior senator of New York. old à la carte, incremental policy initiatives Hillary Clinton was elected as senator partly for embodied in Clintonism; he vowed not to be her record of working alongside her husband as progressive on a particular issue and he oversaw the most peaceful and economically conservative on another one. Obama’s rise in prosperous time in the country in half a century. popularity was an early and ominous sign of the Although considered inherently more future of Hillary Clinton and the Clinton progressive and more hawkish than Bill, Hillary ideology. The soon-to-be president represented was well versed in the techniques that helped a population and party that were growing ever make him the first Democrat since Franklin more progressive. Hillary suffered in voter Roosevelt to win reelection. She was always opinion for her record on criminal justice willing to find common ground with reform, finance reform, and foreign Republicans, particularly when it came to adventurism, all of which were policies that foreign policy and military matters. earned the Clintons more support in the primacy of their careers. In other areas, she was 2 The Last of a Dying Breed: The 2016 Referendum on Clintonism Marcus Montgomery not progressive enough. Although she had long challenged her long-held belief in centrism. Her championed health care reform, many opponent, Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont), Democratic voters were more receptive to and general election nemesis, Donald Trump, Obama’s liberal ideas for reform. were both candidates who were fueled by voter frustration, feelings of betrayal, and a Obama-Clinton Foreign Policy heightened sense of partisanship. Voters of both parties were frustrated with the proliferation of After Barack Obama was named president, establishment politicians, of which Hillary Hillary Clinton accepted the role of secretary of Clinton seemed to be the embodiment. The state, positioning herself for another betrayal that large portions of US demographics presidential bid in the future. But, her time at felt was a result of two Obama campaigns the State Department would not be as self- saturated with rhetoric about hope and change, serving as she might have envisioned and, in but passing by with few results and a great deal fact, her ties to the Obama Administration of perceived abandonment. For liberals, the would eventually come back to haunt her. Being pursuit of the progressive values that Obama the face of US foreign policy, she attempted to supposedly stood for was ultimately maintain the Clintonist approaches of contradicted by the relatively centrist engagement and enlargement—in the larger governance he crafted. Here, Secretary context of President Obama’s policy agenda— Clinton’s ties to the Obama Administration by initiating the infamous “Russian reset,” were damaging, as they gave her the brokering the early back-channel discussions appearance of being more centrist than a new with Iran on its nuclear program, and initially generation of Democrats was willing to supporting the adoption of the Trans-Pacific support. Within the Democratic Party, Partnership. All of these moves elicited Sanders’s bid for the nomination was a backlash from Democrats and Republicans reflection of a new class of voters—those alike, indicating that although she largely increasingly young and progressive voters who operated under the same ideological framework expected not just rhetoric about pursuing as her husband had during their time in the
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