Legal Commentary

Signs of the New Hillary: Attacks on Special Interests and Obama

By Jeralyn

Even sporting a pair of blue boxing gloves, Hillary Clinton came out swinging today at a General Motors plant in Ohio:

In a speech to General Motors workers and executives, Clinton trumped Obama's own economic plan from a day before and appeared to be channeling former rival John Edwards' populist anti-corporate message.

The Specifics of her plan:

She said she would rein in oil, insurance, credit card, student loan and Wall Street investment companies and generate $55 billion a year that would be used for middle class tax cuts, create jobs and pay for an array of domestic programs.

On Obama: [more]

Clinton went after Obama, tying him to nuclear interests and blaming for doing little to stave off job losses in Illinois.

"My opponent says that he'll take on the special interests," she said. "Well, he told people he stood up to the nuclear industry and passed a bill against them. But he actually let the nuclear industry water down his bill the bill never actually passed."

Clinton was referring to Exelon Corp., a Chicago-based energy giant and nuclear plant operator, whose executives and employees have contributed more than $200,000 to Obama's campaigns since 2004. This month, The New York Times examined whether Obama, at the behest of Exelon lobbyists, had weakened legislation aimed at tightening regulations on the nuclear industry.

We wrote about that here.

More on Hillary's new plan:

Clinton told the GM workers, "I'm announcing an agenda to rein in the special interests and save the American people at least $55 billion a year. Money that can go back into your pockets. Money we can use to create new jobs, rebuild our infrastructure, make college affordable and so much more."

She said she would force oil companies to invest some of their record profits in high-wage, clean-energy jobs. "I'll end their special tax breaks and given them a choice: Invest some of your profits in alternative energy or we'll do it for you," she said....In addition to earlier proposals to cap interest rates at 30 percent, Clinton said she would prohibit credit card companies from imposing hidden fees and sudden rate hikes.

I think the provision in her new plan that may resonate most with voters is this one:

She promised to stop insurance companies from refusing to cover the pre-existing conditions of their clients.

"They spend more than $50 billion a year trying to figure out how not to cover people," Clinton said. "I'm going to save them a fortune and a whole lot of time, because here's the new policy: No more discrimination period. So even if you have a pre-existing condition, you can get the health insurance you need no questions asked."

Update: Hillary supporters start a fundraising blog for her.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on February 14, 2008 (boomark / email).