Hillary Clinton on the Issues

It's important to vote for a candidate based on the issues, experience, and judgment as opposed to the production values of their television commercials. The candidates do their best to hide their positions on important issues. Here is my effort to try and present where they stand on the issues.

Iraq
Hillary Clinton voted for a resolution that would end the combat phase in Iraq by March 31, 2008. However, she would leave residual troops in Iraq for the following reasons: to prevent al Qaeda from having a staging ground, until common cause has been made with some Iraqis in Anbar province, to make sure the Kurds are being treated well, to quell Iranian influence, to protect the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, to continue training missions. She also says that leaving Iraq would be against American and Israeli interests. These provisions leave the door open for a heavy US troops presence to remain in Iraq for a long time. Clinton voted against funding the war recently, which was a turn around from her previous votes on the subject.

Iran
Clinton is the only Democratic candidate to vote for a non-binding resolution to name an Iranian military unit a terrorist organization. This is not a direct vote for war with Iran, but it opens the door. It grants the Bush administration the benefit of the doubt, something they don't deserve. It is awfully reminiscent of the 2002 vote to authorize force against Iraq that Clinton also voted for. It's a particularly poor show of judgment on Clinton's part since the National Intelligence Estimate claimed that Iran has not had a nuclear program since 2003.

Health Care
Hillary Clinton favors universal health care. Her plan would make health insurance mandatory. Families would receive tax credits to help pay for coverage, which would be designed to limit the premiums to a percentage of a family's income. Americans would be offered the same health care benefits offered to Congress through the federal employee benefits program as well as a public program similar to Medicare. She would help to pay for her plan by rolling back Bush's tax cuts for those making over $250,000. Source: "Clinton unveils mandatory health care insurance plan" cnn.com.

Immigration
Hillary Clinton favors building a barrier on the border with Mexico, which is a waste of resources. She is against giving undocumented immigrants a driver's license. As with all Democratic candidates, she favors a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, but it is not a priority.

Free Trade
Clinton has a mixed record on trade. She has been criticized for originally a supporting NAFTA and now being critical of it. The criticism is unwarranted; people should be allowed to change their opinion if they realize their old stance was wrong. It's common sense. However, it is her recent record that is mixed. She voted against CAFTA. She recently voted for the NAFTA-style Peru agreement. She is skeptical of the free trade Doha trade talks. She would review NAFTA, but not necessarily scrap it.

Education
I haven't found much a plan put forth by Clinton. It simply not be there. She is in favor of universal pre-kindergarten and helped to create Head Start. She also co-sponsored legislation called the Disabilities in Education Improvement Act, which is designed to help students in Special Education

Environment
Clinton supports the goal of an 80% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050. She thinks we should look at clean coal as a source of energy, but not liquefied coal. She is agnostic about nuclear power. She favors the cap and trade system, using an auction for the allocation of permits to pollute. She supports a fuel-efficiency standard of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, below what the other Democratic candidates are calling for.

Other issues
gay rights: She is against gay marriage, but favors civil unions. She supports the ENDA and, as with all Democratic candidates, is against the Don't Ask, Don't Tell military policy.
death penalty: She is a long-time advocate.
Cuban embargo: She is for it in its current form

Other stuff
Hillary Clinton is a two-term senator from New York. She was first lady of the United States for eight years. This might come as a surprise to you, but her husband is former president Bill Clinton. Hillary Clinton is the first female frontrunner for her party's nomination for president in the history of the U.S. She has faced some ridiculous critiques because of that fact. People question whether the leaders of other countries would take her, as a woman, seriously (of course they would, she wouldn't be the first female head of state in the world). Her appearance is often unfairly examined in the media. Her stances are often analyzed in the context of her being a woman and not as a candidate. She should be evaluated from a political perspective, where she is center-left on domestic issues and a centrist (or even center-right) when it comes to foreign policy.