podesta_email_21467.txt

podesta-emails 3,052 words email

P17 V11 D6 V9 P23

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*​**Correct The Record Thursday January 8, 2015 Afternoon Roundup:* *Tweets:* *Correct The Record* @CorrectRecord: .@HillaryClinton <https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton> represents progressive values & policies that have "the country more excited than ever" @RepTimRyan <https://twitter.com/RepTimRyan> http://www.rollcall.com/news/progressives_are_ready_for_hillary_commentary-239087-1.html … <http://t.co/wStdewXLpU> [1/8/15, 12:46 p.m. EST <https://twitter.com/CorrectRecord/status/553246273193529344>] *Correct The Record* @CorrectRecord: .@RepTimRyan <https://twitter.com/RepTimRyan> says @HillaryClinton <https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton> "would be the best person to lead our country forward." http://www.rollcall.com/news/progressives_are_ready_for_hillary_commentary-239087-1.html … <http://t.co/wStdewXLpU> [1/8/15, 12:01 p.m. EST <https://twitter.com/CorrectRecord/status/553234984056520704>] *Correct The Record* @CorrectRecord: The @GOP <https://twitter.com/GOP> has been full of old attacks for a long time. Nothing new today. [1/8/15, 11:16 a.m. EST <https://twitter.com/CorrectRecord/status/553223614422478848>] *Correct The Record* @CorrectRecord: .@GOP <https://twitter.com/GOP> stuck on outdated playlist. Old. Debunked. Boring. [1/8/15, 10:52 a.m. EST <https://twitter.com/CorrectRecord/status/553217597832196096>] *Headlines:* *Time: Pres. Bill Clinton: “Bill Clinton Remembers Mario Cuomo” <http://time.com/3659199/bill-clinton-remembers-mario-cuomo/>* [Subtitle:] “Mario Cuomo’s America was one of community, compassion and responsibility” *Politico: “Report: Game on? Jeb Bush jabs Hillary Clinton” <http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/jeb-bush-jabs-hillary-clinton-114073.html>* “Jeb Bush is wasting no time taking on Hillary Clinton, even though neither party’s potential 2016 standard-bearer has officially committed to a presidential bid.” *The Economist: “An army without generals” <http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21638133-if-barack-obama-not-really-leader-democratic-party-who-army-without>* “Hillary Clinton will dominate her party’s presidential primary if and when she says she is running. At the moment, she is a spectral presence—freezing the 2016 contest without offering leadership.” *New York Times: “Senator Barbara Boxer Says She Won’t Seek Re-election in 2016” <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/us/politics/senator-barbara-boxer-says-she-wont-seek-re-election-in-2016.html?_r=0>* “Mr. Rodham is a nephew of Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom Ms. Boxer appeared to refer to in saying that in the coming two years, ‘I want to help our Democratic candidate for president make history.’” *Articles:* *Time obituary: Pres. Bill Clinton: “Bill Clinton Remembers Mario Cuomo” <http://time.com/3659199/bill-clinton-remembers-mario-cuomo/>* By Pres. Bill Clinton January 8, 2015, 6:26 a.m. EST [Subtitle:] Mario Cuomo’s America was one of community, compassion and responsibility Mario Cuomo’s life story–the proud son of immigrants who raised him to believe in faith, family and work and to use his own gifts to enter public service and reach the pinnacle of New York politics–will always be inspiring. But it is especially important to us today because he believed that every American, native-born or immigrant, should have the same chance he’d had, and that that could only happen in a strong community with a compassionate, effective government. He deplored winner-take-all economics and winner-take-all politics. He believed to the end that our country could give anyone the chance to rise without pushing others out or down, and that at its best, the essential role of government is to give everyone a fair chance to rise. He never believed government could replace strong families and individual initiative. The beautiful family he and Matilda created and the lives their children have lived are more than enough proof of that. He simply believed that without a “hand up” government, too many people would be left behind and our country would be diminished. Once an avid and able baseball player, Mario said in an interview for Ken Burns’ Baseball series, “You find your own good in the good of the whole. You find your own individual fulfillment in the success of the community.” Everything Mario Cuomo did was part of his passionate determination to strengthen the bonds of community, from his early efforts to address AIDS, to his support for mentoring and health care programs for children who needed them, to his initiatives to create more economic opportunities in upstate New York. For him the struggle to solve particular problems was not interest-group politics but community building, making the weak links stronger. He believed that he could do his part to build the “more perfect union” of our founders’ dreams. He did it with a politics like Lincoln’s–whom he so admired and wrote about–based on the better angels of our nature. He had a fine mind, competitive drive and unsurpassed eloquence. While he loved to debate, often fiercely, with reporters and opponents, he wanted his adversaries to have a fair chance to make their case. That was never more clear than in 1993, when his thorny critic, the New York Post, hit hard times. As the Post graciously said on Jan. 1, “Mario Cuomo stepped in and heroically performed a one-man rescue mission … because he was convinced it was in New York’s best interests, not necessarily his own.” As all the political world knows, I owe a great debt to Mario Cuomo–for declining to run for President in 1992, then electrifying our convention with his nomination speech for me. I later wanted to nominate him for the Supreme Court, but he declined. I think he loved his life in New York and was content to be our foremost citizen advocate for government’s essential role in building a strong American community, living and growing together. In all the years since, Mario Cuomo never stopped believing that, in our hearts, Americans don’t want to be divided, driven by resentment and insecurity. He saw problems and setbacks as a part of the human condition, mountains to be climbed and opportunities to be seized–together. Mario Cuomo’s America of community, compassion and responsibility will live as long as there are people who believe in it as strongly as he did, who define our success by the chances we give to others who have dreams and the determination to chase them. In his keynote address to the 1984 Democratic Convention, Mario said, “We still believe in this nation’s future … It’s a story … I didn’t read in a book, or learn in a classroom. I saw it and lived it … Please, make this nation remember how futures are built.” That memory is Mario Cuomo’s lasting gift to us. *Politico: “Report: Game on? Jeb Bush jabs Hillary Clinton” <http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/jeb-bush-jabs-hillary-clinton-114073.html>* By Lucy McCalmont January 8, 2015, 8:07 a.m. EST Jeb Bush is wasting no time taking on Hillary Clinton, even though neither party’s potential 2016 standard-bearer has officially committed to a presidential bid. Speaking at a closed-press fundraiser in Connecticut on Wednesday night, Bush suggested to potential donors that the former secretary of state would have to explain President Barack Obama’s foreign policy mistakes, Hearst Connecticut Media reported Thursday. The outlet, anonymously citing attendees who heard Bush’s remarks, reported that the former Florida governor took another not-so-subtle jab at Clinton. “He said, ‘If someone wants to run a campaign about ’90s nostalgia, it’s not going to be very successful,’” Hearst Connecticut Media reported, citing another person present at the event. Bush spoke to the crowd of 175 people for about 30 minutes, and spent another 30 minutes taking questions. The event, a fundraiser for his new Right to Rise PAC, was held at the home of former Goldman Sachs executive Charles Davis. Bush also dismissed broad comparisons to his famous family, according to an attendee. “He said, ‘Do you have a father? Do you have a brother? Are you the same person?’” the unnamed source told Hearst. A Bush spokesperson declined to comment, citing the closed-press nature of the event. *The Economist: “An army without generals” <http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21638133-if-barack-obama-not-really-leader-democratic-party-who-army-without>* [No Writer Mentioned] January 10, 2015 [Subtitle:] If Barack Obama is not really the leader of the Democratic Party, who is? THOUGH leading the Republican Party can be a trying task, many politicians want to have a go. Ambition swirls so thickly in the halls of the 114th Congress, which was sworn in on January 6th, that it can almost be touched. Republican leaders, whips and committee chairmen, even the bosses of rebellious factions: all yearn to use their party’s newly won control of the Senate and House of Representatives to make Barack Obama’s life miserable and promote voter-pleasing conservative policies. As for the 2016 presidential nomination, around a dozen Republican bigwigs are circling the starting-line of that contest, eyes agleam. The party is fractious, but it is filled with energy, and those who would lead. The contrast with the Democratic Party is striking. The party remains a potent force in national politics, even after 2014’s mid-term elections cost it control of the Senate and left it with fewer House members than at any time since 1946. But as Democrats head into the final two years of the Obama era, they resemble an army without a commander-in-chief, or even generals whom footsoldiers might follow into battle. In Congress the Democratic leaders of the Senate and House are both in their 70s, as are many of their lieutenants. Both are crafty tacticians more than inspiring thinkers. Neither represents the future. Out in the country, Republicans can point to any number of governors who look like conservative champions, busy turning their states into laboratories for tax-cutting, government-shrinking experiments. Only a handful of Democratic governors similarly dominate their states’ politics—the most prominent, Jerry Brown of California, is 76 years old. Hillary Clinton will dominate her party’s presidential primary if and when she says she is running. At the moment, she is a spectral presence—freezing the 2016 contest without offering leadership. If she does not run, it is not obvious who could replace her. Some like to daydream about Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Wall Street-bashing populist who is to the left of centre in her home state, Massachusetts, which is in turn to the left of centre of America as a whole. Ms Warren says she is not running for president (she favours the present tense), which makes her more sensible than her supporters: as a matter of cold electoral maths, she cannot win a nationwide contest. President Obama’s relations with the Democratic Party are increasingly complicated. After a wretched 2014, during which he seemed buffeted by events, Republicans successfully made the mid-term elections a referendum on his competence, prompting Democrats in some conservative states to try to disown him (in vain—most such Democrats lost anyway). Since then, Mr Obama has defied predictions of his imminent irrelevance. He has used his executive powers to shield millions of migrants from deportation, and started to dismantle the (remarkably ineffective) embargo against Cuba. He has sketched out future policies that may define his legacy, from new rules to protect the environment to global trade pacts. Republicans will try to thwart many of his plans. Global events continue to menace him. But as much as his office permits, Mr Obama is setting the agenda. Yet if Mr Obama is not quite the lame-duck president that critics foresaw, he is still a lame-duck leader of the Democratic Party. Partly, this is a question of differing incentives. Mr Obama wants a legacy. Democrats have future elections to win. As Mr Obama conceded to National Public Radio recently, such policies as unpicking the Cuban embargo are “frankly…easier” for a president at the end of his term. Mr Obama has a strong interest in achievements that can pass a Republican-held Congress. Two planned trade pacts, one with Asia-Pacific countries, the other with Europe, are a case in point. Republicans and some centrist Democrats want a deal. Left-wing Democrats and unions are appalled. In part, the end of the Obama era is a moment of political clarity, exposing the oddly transactional nature of his ties to his own party. Mr Obama did not become the Democrats’ champion by explaining what sort of party they needed to be. He won office in 2008 by offering a new, post-racial, post-partisan form of politics, buttressed by the promise of his own life-story and brilliant electoral technology. He kept office in 2012 by turning out an “Obama coalition” that united the young, the poor, non-whites, gays, urban hipsters, unmarried women and affluent liberals. Other Democratic politicians went along for the ride, while grumbling that their president was disappointingly aloof and risk-averse. Breaches of decorum Relations between Mr Obama and congressional Democrats are sourer than ever. In an unusual breach of decorum, the strains of the 2014 election prompted on-the-record grouching about the White House from a right-hand man to Harry Reid, the Democratic leader in the Senate. A December budget crunch saw Nancy Pelosi, the Democrats’ boss in the House, fulminate against her own president’s willingness to cut deals with Republicans. Greybeards counsel calm. Presidents inevitably see their clout ebb as successors’ elections near, says Tom Daschle, who led Senate Democrats from 1995 to 2005. If Mrs Clinton runs for the nomination, she will become an alternative centre of power which will grow in importance. If she does not run, “there is a list of people waiting in the wings”, Mr Daschle soothes, offering as examples two very different senators: Ms Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand (the junior senator from New York and a politician of Clinton-level pragmatism, without the Clintons’ experience). Other Democrats are less sure, seeing a problem that goes beyond personnel issues. “It is a little confusing who is leading the Democratic Party right now,” says a member of Congress who hears nothing “galvanising” from Mr Obama, and “no energy, no excitement”, from congressional bosses. Put another way, Democrats feel leaderless because the party lacks big, compelling ideas. Someone may yet fill that void. It needs to happen soon. *New York Times: “Senator Barbara Boxer Says She Won’t Seek Re-election in 2016” <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/us/politics/senator-barbara-boxer-says-she-wont-seek-re-election-in-2016.html?_r=0>* By Adam Nagourney January 8, 2015 LOS ANGELES — Senator Barbara Boxer announced Thursday that she would not seek re-election as senator from California, ending a 30-year career in Congress and breaking a generational logjam in a state where the three top political officeholders are over 70 years old. “I am never going to retire — the work is too important,” Ms. Boxer, a Democrat, said in a video interview with her oldest grandson. “But I am not going to be running for the Senate in 2016.” The decision by Ms. Boxer, who is 74, was widely expected and comes nearly two years before she was to face re-election. It is unlikely to change the fight for control of the Senate in 2016; California is overwhelmingly Democratic, and officials from both parties said a Republican would have an extremely difficult time winning the seat. But it appears to signal what many Democrats, especially younger ones, have been waiting for across this state: the beginning of a wave of retirement by an older generation of Democrats who have dominated the upper realms of elected office here. Among them are Gov. Jerry Brown, 76, who was sworn in to his fourth and final term on Monday — because of term limits, he will have to step down — and Senator Dianne Feinstein, who is 81 and up for re-election in 2018. Ms. Feinstein has given no indication of her plans. The other powerful Democrat from California in Washington is Representative Nancy Pelosi, the house Democratic leader, who is also 74. The Democrats most often mentioned as likely to seek an open Senate seat are Gavin Newsom, 47, the lieutenant governor, and Kamala Harris, 50, the attorney general. They are hardly the only members of a younger generation of politicians looking to move on here: Eric M. Garcetti, 43, the new mayor of Los Angeles, is often mentioned as a potential candidate for governor; since he just assumed office in 2013, Democrats said it was unlikely he would move for Ms. Boxer’s Senate seat. A fourth Democrat, Antonio Villaraigosa, 61, the former mayor of Los Angeles, has also expressed interest in running for higher office, but in interviews he has said he is more likely to run for governor once Mr. Brown steps down. Ms. Boxer made her announcement in an interview with her youngest grandson, Zach Rodham, 19, saying she had chosen him as a surrogate for reporters who had been hounding her with questions about her intention on Capitol Hill. “I thought since you are my eldest grandchild, you could sit in for those reporters, you could ask me those questions,” she said. “Sure,” responded Mr. Rodham, who was wearing shorts during the interview. Mr. Rodham is a nephew of Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom Ms. Boxer appeared to refer to in saying that in the coming two years, “I want to help our Democratic candidate for president make history.” Ms. Boxer told her grandson that her decision to leave the Senate, where she has served since 1993, after serving in the House, should not be seen as stepping away from the harsh political environment there. She also said it had nothing to do with her age. “No, definitely not, Zach,” she said. “Here’s the thing: Some people are old at 40. And some people are young at 80. It depends on the person. As for me, I feel as young as I did when I was elected.” “But you know what?” she continued. “I want to come home. I want to come home to the state I love so much — California.” Democratic officials said they thought it unlikely that Republicans would put much effort into winning the seat, both because of the party’s declining fortunes here — there are no Republicans holding statewide positions in California now — and because this is such an expensive state in which to run a race, given the number of high-cost media markets. By contrast, a Democratic primary is likely to be highly competitive and very expensive, given that a primary victory is almost certain to mean winning the seat. “California is a blue state and obviously we are optimistic about keeping it,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Democrat in the Senate. “There will be a lot of strong candidates, but obviously you can’t take anything for granted.” Ms. Pelosi, who is from San Francisco, seemed taken by surprise when told by reporters at her weekly news conference that Ms. Boxer had announced her decision. “What?” Ms. Pelosi said. “It’s funny, she called me and she said she wanted to talk to me personally,” Ms. Pelosi said. “I thought maybe she wanted to have dinner tonight or something. Oh my.”