What struck me most was how liberal Hillary sounded or tried to sound
By Hector Luis Alamo
AUSTIN Texas (Texas Insider Report) On the night of January 11th the three Democrats running for president were at Drake University
in Des Moines Iowa for the Iowa Brown and Black Forum billed as the oldest presidential forum geared toward voters of color. Jorge Ramos was joined by his Fusion teammates as moderators for this years event. For the most part they asked
the tough questions that much of the
Black and Latino electorates would like to see posed to anyone seeking the top job.
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont whos in a dead heat with Hillary Clinton in Iowa just three weeks ahead of that states first-in-the-nation caucus was asked about marijuana decriminalization affirmative action and making female students safer on Americas college campus which he said he supports of course."
For her part the former first lady former senator former secretary of State and former presumptive Democratic nominee suggested she was against mass deportations (including the
recent raids conducted by her old boss) and in favor of community policing (which Sanders also favors of of course").
Martin OMalley the former mayor of Baltimore and governor of Maryland (and the official other guy") was… Martin OMalley: somewhere between Sanders and Hillary in both style and substance.
OMalley has made a lot of terrific statements concerning the countrys
inhumane immigration laws and
criminal injustice system. But theres something much too rote about his speeches and responses.
When Ramos
pointed out that this years Democratic selection of candidates offered not one non-white person (though to be fair a woman and socialist atheist aint bad) OMalley began his answer by dropping his head and staring at his knees as he spoke bringing to mind Will Ferrells almost Pavlovian
debate response in
Old School.
OMalley has an unfortunate tendency to deliver a lot his answers if not staring at his knees or shoes then in an equally mechanical way. Obviously theres nothing wrong with a presidential candidate being polished unpolished politician" maybe an oxymoron but 2016 is not the year for blatantly polished politicians as indicated by the steady popularity of Donald J. Trump and Senator Rafael Cruz on the Republican side.
Then again OMalleys aim might be to run as Bernie Lite" which come to think of it isnt that bad a plan in a country as politically timid as ours.
What struck me most was how liberal Hillary sounded or tried to sound clearly a testament to how the Sanders campaign has pulled the rhetoric within the Democratic Party to the left. She spoke of police officers terrorizing the communities theyre meant to serve and even the privilege she has enjoyed as a white person only after she was asked to discuss white privilege to be sure. (I cant imagine such a question being raised in a Republican
forum; thus one clear difference between the blue and red teams.)
Hillarys polish makes OMalley look like a sidewalk penny but listen to her long enough and you start to hear her inner centrist. She goes on and on about sympathizing with child immigrants and their families but then says that those fleeing blood-soaked Central America and seeking asylum in the United States are at the mercy of the United States callous (and regularly xenophobic) laws.
Hillary insists she isnt for mass deportations but for deportations nonetheless only on a case-by-case basis. She wants to make sure each and every asylum seeker has his or her story heard in court before theyre crowded onto a bus or plane and returned to whichever hellhole they temporarily managed to escape.
The former chief of U.S. foreign relations also insists that the United States helped Colombia" a reference to Plan Colombia which saw the United States increase aid to Colombias security forces in an effort to combat organized crime or at least that was the stated goal of the program. In fact the United States wanted to help Colombias right-wing government finally put down leftist rebels and end the countrys decades-long civil war and indeed Plan Colombia ushered in
a wave of human rights abuses committed by Colombian military and police forces much of it funded and taught by Washington.
If Colombia can be described as peaceful today its only because enough of its citizens have
died fled or disappeared. Then again hawks like Hillary love to fool the American public into thinking that the cost of peace is war.
Its too bad for her that Bernie Sanders decided he wants to be president. He may be a
socialist in name only
but his agenda is progressive enough to make voting for a woman the conservative option for Democrats this year.
Hector Luis Alamo is a Chicago-based writer and the deputy editor at Latino Rebels. You can connect with him @HectorLuisAlamo.
