Democratic Debate April 14, 2016

Hilary Clinton is beginning to annoy me:
1. Why won't she release the transcripts of her $250,000 speeches to Goldman-Sachs and others?  Is there something like what David Corn and Mother Jones found in Romney's famous "47 percent" speech?  And who are these other unnamed people who should also release transcripts?  Bernie Sanders has no transcripts to release and even if Cruz and Trump do, so what?  Does she really want to associate herself with those dissemblers?

2. In the early part of her campaign Clinton couldn't distance herself fast enough from Obama while last night, as Sanders pointed out, it was all "Obama this and Obama that."  One wouldn't have to be particularly cynical to think that this change is because Obama's approval ratings are rising and Clinton is again shifting with the wind.  Everything good that Obama has done was because of her advice and every mistake he made was because he didn't listen to her!

3.Clinton claims she has stood up against the insurance companies and the drug companies so why is she opposed to single-payer healthcare?  She says she wants the remaining 10% of Americans covered but offers no suggestions how she will do this or how, if at all, she would bring down the costs for many of the poor who cannot afford what Obamacare costs or cannot afford the increasing co-pays. Her only defense --and this is true about other issues, too -- is that she wants to "avoid a contentious debate and forge a consensus."  Good luck with that, it sounds to me like an abdication of authority.

4.  Clinton claims to be sympathetic to the problem of student debt but she doesn't want free tuition for state colleges because there are too many Republican governors and that would provoke the dreaded "contentious debate."

5.  Clinton deplores climate change but doesn't think we can do anything about it unless India and China can be convinced to change their policies.  Meanwhile, she supports fracking and does not support a carbon tax.

6.  Clinton is sorry about what happened in Libya but what could one do, they didn't want our help!  She voted for the Iraq war -- Sanders voted against it -- and still doesn't seem to understand that getting rid of a ruthless dictator is fine as far as it goes but one has to have some kind of plan for what happens afterwards.

I wish both Sanders and Clinton would come more strongly to the defense of unions.  Sanders at least made a point about Verizon and the CWA and the continuing erosion of the middle class as the power of unions has precipitously declined. I must admit I was a little confused during the discussion of guns:  Clinton thinks that gun sellers and manufacturers should be responsible for what someone does with a gun even if that gun was sold legally? Sanders did not bring it up during this debate but his suggestion for single-payer healthcare, including mental healthcare, would likely be of more help than additional gun control, as much as that may also be needed.