Leftist Contemplate Running Against Clinton. Shows How Out Of Touch Progressive Wing Of Dems Are.,

November 10, 2014, 07:45 am

Democrats plot challenges to Clinton

By Peter Sullivan

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Multiple potential challengers say in new interviews that they may take on Hillary Clinton if, as expected, she runs for the White House in 2016

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and former Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) all made comments to The New Yorker indicating they are considering challenging Clinton from the left. 

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O'Malley, who has made his interest in a presidential run clear with trips to Iowa and New Hampshire, joined Republicans such as Sen.Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) in linking Democrats' midterm losses to the Clintons, who campaigned hard for candidates.

“None of our surrogates from the Party’s past were able to affect the results of this wave,” O’Malley told The New Yorker for its long look at possible Clinton challengers published Monday. “I think a reasonable person could conclude that the nation is looking for new solutions to our problems and looking for new leadership.”

O'Malley also defended himself after his Democratic lieutenant governor, Anthony Brown, lost to Republican Larry Hogan in the race for Maryland governor last Tuesday.

“I wasn’t on the ballot,” he said. “In the last race that I ran, in 2010—not a very easy year—the exact same tax attacks were leveled and the economy was even worse, and we won by 14 points.”

In a sign of a populist line of attack, O'Malley hit President Obama for not being tough enough on Wall Street at the start of his presidency. “The moment was ripe for much more aggressive action," he said. "If an institution is too big to fail, too big to jail, too big to prosecute, then it’s probably too damn big.”

Sanders, an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats, is one the most liberal end of members of Congress.

“I don’t think it’s just with Hillary,” he replied when asked if the left is dissatisfied with Clinton. “I think it’s a very deep dissatisfaction with the political establishment."

Sanders had a tough critique of former President Bill Clinton, which could be leveled against Hillary Clinton.

“The Clinton Administration worked arm in arm with Alan Greenspan—who is, on economic matters, obviously, an extreme right-wing libertarian—on deregulating Wall Street, and that was a total disaster,” Sanders said. “And then you had the welfare issue, trade policies. You had the Defense of Marriage Act.”

Webb has also signaled interest in a run. The Vietnam veteran has opposed interventions like the Iraq War and could run as a populist as well.

“A lot of the Democratic leaders who don’t want to scare away their financial supporters will say we’re going to raise the minimum wage, we’re going do these little things, when in reality we need to say we’re going to fundamentally change the tax code so that you will believe our system is fair," Webb said.

A common theme in the comments is wanting something new, in contrast to Clinton, who has been on the public stage for over two decades.

“Seventy or eighty per cent of people want to hear from a new perspective before they make a decision about whether to go with what they know,” O’Malley said. “A person becomes very famous in this country very quickly.”