Or maybe claiming or rejecting Kissinger’s realpolitik legacy signals deeper, systematic differences between democratic socialism and Third Way programs — especially for trade deals like NAFTA and TPP.
It was Kissinger who allowed Iran to buy weapons from the U.S. And by his last year in office this Eastern country became the largest American weapon buyer. After he had left his position, the Iranian Revolution of 1979 broke the established relations between the two countries—some politicians strongly believed that the former Secretary was to blame. His Eastern policy mainly concerned the oil market and, he even wondered once, whether they can overthrow some sheikhs to flex the muscles and just grab the oil
Some voters see that Sanders will deliver for working voters.
And the culturally fizzy wedge issues like affirmative action and drug crimes that the GOP used for 30 years to split working voters may finally have gone flat.
For a long time the Clinton political strategy has been to undermine their opponents by obscuring any differences between them, momentarily adopting some of their opponents’ positions and claiming to be a more moderate version of that, whatever it is. In the '90s the Clintons were the moderate version of Newt Gingrich.
So if any pundits are suddenly claiming Hillary Clinton is the same as Sanders, in any way, you can be sure they are just repeating her current talking points.
I think this is an accurate description of Third Way (corpratist) dem strategy.
H. Clinton is to Nixon as Eisenhower is to FDR.
And as the Reagan coalition continues fracturing over the new tolerance for formerly reliable scapegoats, there’s new opportunity to mobilize working voters.
H. Clinton is all Third Way corporate and does not seem to know how to mobilize working voters.
In the 80s and 90s, working voters were too tough for dems to mobilize because of GOP wedge issue dogwhistling to southern dems.
I don’t think the Clintons are any more committed to a Third Way than they are to anything else. The Third Way was convenient for them in 1996. This week Hillary is a moderate socialist. Next week, whatever. It didn’t occur to her that anybody would look up Henry Kissinger’s actual biography and use it against her. She was just dropping a name.
God knows what kind of moderately fascistic positions the Clintons will stake out if they end up triangulating against Donald Trump in the general election.
Trying to rebrand a corporatist as a democratic socialist won’t work because they operate differently. That’s partly why Bernie has crowds, and Clinton doesn’t.
And Sanders didn’t have to look anything up about Henry Kissinger. He never forgot.
Whatever Clinton says during the primary, her actual electoral and governing position will be wherever she determines that one voter to the left of the Republican candidate is. So, if you want a mildly more sane version of Cruz or Trump, vote Hillary.
