Wednesday, January 24, 2007

 

Five Questions Hillary Won't Get in Her Last Webchat (But Should)

Tonight brings the last of Hillary Clinton's much-hyped trio of post-announcement webchats. So far the questions have been far more fluff than tough. Democratic viewers would be much better served -- and so would Candidate Clinton -- if she got confronted with more substantive and challenging questions like these:

1) How will you persuade the anti-war base of the party to support the use of military force if it proves necessary to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons?

2) Assuming you are not prepared to make substantial cuts in entitlement and discretionary spending, which specific taxes would you raise to pay for all of your proposals to come and by how much?

3) How do you square your vote against CAFTA with your prior support of similar free trade agreements? And going forward, what specific tests will you apply in negotiating and approving trade deals, especially on labor and environmental standards?

4) In the past you have been willing to embrace controversial education reforms that the teachers unions have opposed. Can you name two or three policies today that would fall into that category? Will you make the same commitment your husband did to support the growth of high-performing public charter schools as one tool to help close the achievement gap, no matter how strongly the unions oppose them?

5) How do you respond to your critics in the party who contend that your positions seem based much more on calculation than on conviction? For example, can you explain how and when you came to your stance on flag burning and how you reconcile your support for a criminal statute to ban this form of speech with your progressive values?

(Cross-posted on Political Insider......)

Comments:
I disagree with the premise of question 4. I think the teachers' union was right all along and there's precious little evidence that charter schools improve much of anything.

So my version would be along the lines of whether she remains commited to this failed experiment.
 
Post a Comment



<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?