NEW HAMPSHIRE voters contemplate DRAFTING HILLARY CLINTON:

New Hampshire voters should draft Hillary

Taken almost one year ago today- December 23, 2010- GIVE US HILLARY for PRESIDENT in 2012

We are now calling on Democratic voters nationally — particularly in New Hampshire — to organize a write-in campaign for Clinton. This is something that New Hampshire voters have a long history of doing.

YOU’RE GONNA LOVE IT! SIGN THIS PETITION, please.

HILLARY REPLACING OBAMA AS THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE

We advocate this DRAFT HILLARY movement not because of the desire to make political mischief — but to put the country on the right course.

It’s clear that Obama has been unable to build consensus and, with the polarizing campaign he is now running, will be unable to govern effectively even if reelected. Only Clinton can commit the Democratic Party — and, indeed, the nation — to a unification and healing process. This could allow Washington, in a bipartisan manner, to finally address the economic and governmental
crises that now grip America.

We are facing a crisis of national leadership, so citizens should step up and take charge of their country the way demonstrators in the Middle East did earlier this year. And, stunningly, as the people of Russia are now doing.

It’s time to take the decision about America’s leadership out of the hands of the established powers and return it to the citizens of our country. That opportunity to change U.S. politics will appear in the second week of 2012 in New Hampshire.

To seize this moment two things are required:

First, and most important, ordinary Democrats and independents in New Hampshire should mobilize behind a grass-roots effort to write in Clinton’s name during the Jan. 10 Democratic primary.

Second, a committed group of Democrats with resources and stature needs to help facilitate an authentic citizens’ movement — independent of party structure, Clinton and organized interests — to support a massive New Hampshire write-in campaign and put this before a deeply disaffected electorate.

There is already an online petition to draft Clinton, created by Democrats.
“We the undersigned Democrats want a new Democratic nominee for president who can win in 2012. We are convinced that the only person with the national stature, experience … who can win in the general election in 2012 is Hillary Rodham Clinton. We are fully prepared to take matters in to our own hands and launch our own massive write-in campaign,” it reads.

Even if one does not agree with their every argument, we urge everyone who shares our beliefs go to that website now — and to tell their friends to go to there and sign it.

Since 1944, when approval ratings first became reliable, there have been five cases in which the incumbent president had an approval rating below 49 percent a year ahead of the election. Each time, the incumbent party lost.

Obama’s approval rating has dropped to 43 percent — less than Jimmy Carter’s. Obama now has the worst job approval rating of any president at this stage of his term in modern political history. Many, particularly on the left, have begun to demonstrate with signs reading,

“Buyer’s remorse.”

DRAFT HILLARY 2012 ... Hillary Can Fix This: New Hampshire residents Write in Hillary Clinton for President Primary Day!

In a recent Daily Beast piece, “Hillary Told You So,” angry, frustrated liberals were quoted saying, “No one ever had to tell Hillary” that the economy is crucial, and “Hillary is TOUGHER (and 10X SMARTER ).”

Indeed, the most active calls for Clinton to run have come from the left — indicating that there is substantial support for this idea across the board and not just from centrist Democrats.

Certainly, the recent barrage of articles by former Obama allies saying that the White House has lost white, working-class voters — a key part of the Democratic coalition — is cause enough for Clinton, who has been that voting bloc’s champion in the past, to be the Democratic standard-bearer.

Many argue that our approach is impractical and is unlikely to work because Obama will not stand down. But make no mistake, we are political realists.
As political realists, we know that every recent presidential candidate who has emerged — from Obama in 2008 to Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and now Newt Gingrich — has been citizen-driven. The elites have not driven the process; ordinary voters have filled the void.

Such a void exists now.

Clinton pulled off a stunning New Hampshire primary victory over Obama during the 2008 primaries. There is every reason to believe that, as a write-in candidate, she would get a substantial number of votes in the Granite State next year.

NEW HAMPSHIRE is one state where grass-roots politics predominates. As presidential historian Theodore White wrote in 1965, New Hampshire’s primary allows candidates “to appeal directly to people” and “over the heads of the politicians.”
This primary — traditionally well before other primaries — allows independents to cast ballots for either Democrats or Republicans, unlike most other “closed primaries,” in which only registered Democrats and Republicans can vote on their respective parties’ ballots. It’s justly famous for write-in candidates, who often had substantial success.

In 1964, write-in candidate Henry Cabot Lodge had an upset victory over GOP front-runners Barry Goldwater and Nelson Rockefeller. In 1968, incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson was not on the ballot, but as a write-in, he received nearly 50 percent of all Democratic votes.

A write-in candidacy in 2012 can send a message that the Democratic Party must stand for something more than Obama’s reelection at all costs.

We are not asking the president or the secretary of state to take action. We ask the people of the United States, Democrats and, especially, New Hampshire voters to exercise their right to be heard by writing Clinton’s name on the primary ballot.

Voters have had enough of the establishment powers dictating who can run.

All that is needed is a spark on the dry tinder of political frustration and anxiety. A few Democratic patriots can provide the means to make it possible — and change the course of U.S. history.

article written by: PATRICK H. CADDELL and DOUGLAS E. SCHOEN

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70623.html

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Clinton: ‘We’re Going To Weather This Crisis’

8/12/11
“I’m confident that we’re going to weather this crisis, and not just our own country, because I think that we have very strong reasons to be confident, but I think also, our partners around the world, most particularly in Europe,” she told CBS Evening News.

QUESTION: Thank you, Madam Secretary. You are in close coordination with all of the European Union countries, and I wonder how much confidence you have that the European nations are going to be able to create a soft landing for their debt crisis that doesn’t wreck the economy here in the United States?

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, Scott, I think it’s very clear that the global economy has made us even more interdependent, and we’ve seen that in so many ways over the last three years. We are certainly supporting what the Europeans are trying to do. Our Treasury Secretary and other officials are in constant communication with their counterparts. Obviously, the President has spoken with his, and I’ve spoken with mine. And this is a very challenging economic time for many of us, but I believe that we’ll see actions taken that will provide the so-called soft landing that you’re talking about.

And I think we do have to all pay more attention to how we’re going to create jobs in the so-called developed world that are going to be available for the vast majority of middle-income and lower-income men and women, who are being basically marginalized in the way the global economy is growing.

more details at link:

Link
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Hillary Clinton Asks Tougher Sanctions Against Assad Regime-
Urges Further Sanctions as Syrian Violence Continues

Activists and witnesses say Syrian security forces shot and killed at least 19 people across the country on Friday during anti-government protests. The reports say protesters were killed in at least six Syrian cities, including Hama, Homs and Aleppo, as well as the suburbs of Damascus.

Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have intensified their violent suppression of opposition protests during the past week, despite growing international condemnation.

On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged countries giving Syria economic and political support to “get on the right side of history.” She also called on countries to stop buying Syrian oil and gas.

Clinton says she is continuing diplomatic talks aimed at putting political pressure on Mr. Assad’s government. She again insisted the Syrian president has “lost the legitimacy to lead,” but still stopped short of calling for Mr. Assad to step down, saying that calls for his removal should be part of an international effort.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Abdullah Gul called on Mr. Assad to implement reforms before it is too “late.” Turkish media reports relayed Mr. Gul’s comments on Friday.

The Syrian government has defended its crackdown, saying it is combating armed gangs and terrorists. On Friday, state-run news reports said “armed groups” with “snipers” had opened fire “randomly” in a Damascus suburb and two other areas, killing three law enforcement officers and two civilians.

Rights groups say more than 1,700 people have been killed in Syria’s crackdown.

Details of events in Syria are difficult to independently verify because the government allows very few foreign news reporters into the country and restricts their movements.
Link

In Hillary Withdrawal? Grab a cocktail, Click here and relax!

Team Hillary revving up their engines for a — ? 2012 starts NOW!

YOU BE THE JUDGE!

Hillary’s relationship with Africa goes back decades…

Women are drivers of positive change…

August 09, 2009
Victoria Mxenge co-operative in Cape Town in 1997, I met homeless women working to transform an empty patch of land into a new community. They pooled their savings and microloans, bought shovels, poured concrete and built new homes for themselves and their children. In 1997 there were just 18 homes. I returned a year later and saw 104. Yesterday I found a village of thousands of homes where once there had been only dust and despair.

The determination and entrepreneurial spirit of the women of Victoria Mxenge underscore a basic truth: empowering women is key to global progress and prosperity. This is not just a moral imperative – it is an economic one as well. When women are accorded their rights and afforded equal opportunities in education, health care and gainful employment, they drive social and economic progress. When they are marginalised and mistreated, as is the case in too many places in Africa today, prosperity is impossible.

This week I am travelling across Africa to highlight the continent’s promise and possibility. Empowering women is a crucial step towards seizing the economic opportunities of this new century. No nation can succeed in spreading prosperity or increasing security if it leaves out or leaves behind more than half of the population.

Our broader agenda for progress and economic growth also includes increasing trade, implementing development strategies that build capacity and opportunity, and advancing responsible governance that rejects corruption, enforces the rule of law and delivers results for people. South Africa’s leadership is essential in advancing this agenda across Africa.

South Africans have many reasons to be proud on this National Women’s Day. President Jacob Zuma recently appointed Gill Marcus as governor of the South African Reserve Bank. Across the country, women are leading small and medium-sized businesses that are the foundation of economic progress. And South Africa is home to dynamic entrepreneurs such as Sally Marengo, who started the KPL Aluminium and Zinc Die-Casting factory which now manufactures car parts in Bedfordview, and Lillian Masebenza, who created the Mhani Gingi Social Entrepreneurial Networks to turn traditional stokvels into collectives that help disadvantaged women generate income and start new businesses.

The women of South Africa have helped to make the country an economic anchor for the continent. They are an example of what can be accomplished through civic responsibility, commitment to the rule of law and a diversified and inclusive economy.

Across Africa, women are driving positive change. Kenya’s Wangari Maathai has launched an international movement on behalf of environmental stewardship. Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has taken the reins of a nation once gripped by civil war and proven that women can lead at the highest levels.

But in many parts of Africa, and indeed around the world, the picture is not so encouraging. Laws deny women the right to own property, access credit or make their own choices within their marriage. Women comprise the majority of the world’s poor, unfed and unschooled. They are subjected to rape as a tactic of war, so-called “honour” killings, maiming, trafficking, child marriages, genital mutilation and other violent, degrading practices.

This week I will visit survivors of sexual and gender-based violence used as a tool of conflict in eastern Congo, where women have been victimised on an unimaginable scale. Some 1100 rapes are reported each month, with an average of 36 women and girls raped every day.

In the face of such depravity the world must speak with one clear voice: this violence must end.

The United States is working to develop partnerships across Africa to ensure that the rights of women are protected and respected, and that they have the opportunity to pursue an education, find a good job, live in safety and fulfil their own potential.

President Barack Obama and I believe in Africa’s promise. Too often, the world views Africa only through the lens of poverty, disease and conflict. But we see a continent of opportunity, home to 800 million people – more than half of them women – ready to build, create and thrive.

National Women’s Day commemorates the 20 000 South African women who marched for justice on August 9 1956. Fearless, they sang an anthem that has become a rallying cry: “Wathint’a bafazi, Wathint’ imbokodo” (You Strike a Woman, You Strike a Rock).

Women can be the rock on which a freer, safer and more prosperous Africa is built.

They just need the opportunity.

Bill and Vlad meeting in Davos!

Finally, there’s some HOPE in the World!- The Clintons go about building bridges with countries formerly insulted and snubbed by the Bush Administration!

It’s about damn time this country started making progress rather than the disfunctionality of a country caught in a turn of the century time warp.

Former president, Bill Clinton attending the World Economic Forum this week embraced the occasion for private talks with former president, Vladimir Putin. Apparently, President Clinton’s status works hand in glove in an atmosphere of friendship where he “will continue to be an active figure on the international stage.”

President Clinton’s arrival in Davos was well received by foreign leaders resulting in an intense late night discussion with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The two met at a Sheraton Hotel where Putin reciprocated holding a private party after an early evening reception at a local museum hosted by President Clinton.

After the two men met privately behind closed doors for 90 minutes, walking out together, they greeted party goers and stood for remembrances of their meeting. Clinton quipped at Putin’s remarks implying his supporting free markets. Joking, “I hope it works for him.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet with Secretary of State Clinton prior to the April G-20 Summit, when Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will have their own face-to-face.

THUMBS DOWN for Caroline’s appointment to NY senate Seat..

Heres hoping Governor Paterson isn’t foolish enough to risk the anger and revenge of New Yorkers IF he appoints Caroline to Hillary’s seat!

It’s not like Caroline, if she intends to involve herself in politics, would snub an offer of an Ambassadorship to England, would she? There would be a certain historical symmetry to Kennedy becoming Ambassador to the Court of St James’s (the official title of the US ambassador to the UK). Her grandfather Joe was ambassador from 1938 to 1940, though he hardly covered himself with glory.

A successful stint in London by Caroline – and she seems admirably well-equipped for the job – would help remove the tarnish from that part of the Kennedy legacy. (Some insist Joe Kennedy was a Nazi sympathizer. I am not supporting the claim. Just stating it exists.) Plus Caroline is living with the fact, it’s not just herspotty voting record. I have read that she has been very parsimonious in giving financial backing or any kind of public support to fellow NY democrats running for office over the years.

For one who has shunned the public eye and shunned politics, who has no experience of actually running for office in any capacity, and who has done nothing for the State of New York (this is a Statewide office, not a New York City position) to presume that the job should be handed to her on a platter because she was born a Kennedy is not only ludicrous but insulting to those NY politicians who have labored for years for the party and the State.

Let her go to London. At least she can do no harm. I am sure that she is qualified to host dinners and order flower arrangements and preside over affairs of state and lost X-Pats Passports without much trouble. Caroline can make a run at the NY Seat next year, that is if she’s really interested in representing the state’s electorate.

I have to add, don’t you just love the fact that she has now dropped her married name? I guess Schlossburg doesn’t quite have the same cachet. If London isn’t quite good enough for Caroline, she should consult Joe (the former plumber) the War correspondent. He seems to have found the formula for winning over people simply because he can speak Truth to Power and really mean it.

Marist College released a poll showing 40 percent of voters back Cuomo to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton. Kennedy was favored by 25 percent; Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, 6 percent, and Reps. Steve Israel (D-Huntington) and Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan), each 5 percent.

Cuomo’s support has surged since a Marist poll last month showing Kennedy and him tied. In the new poll, 62 percent said Cuomo would do an excellent or good job as senator, while only 41 percent said the same of Kennedy.
Poll Link

Senators Endorse Hillary Clinton for US Secretary of State

A key U.S. Senate committee has approved the nomination of Hillary Clinton as the next secretary of state.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 16-1 in favor of Clinton. The full Senate is expected to confirm the appointment shortly after President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration.

Clinton Backs Six-Party Talks for Ending North Korean Nuclear Program

At her Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton expressed support for the Chinese-led six-party negotiations aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear program. But she told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the negotiating process championed by the Bush administration is being reviewed.

President-elect Barack Obama said during the campaign that he was willing to try face-to-face diplomacy with leaders of adversary countries, like North Korea, if it would help resolve key problems.

But in her Senate testimony, his Secretary of State-designate said both she and the incoming President believe the six-party process, underway since 2004, has merit both as a negotiating vehicle and as a channel for bilateral dialogue with Pyongyang.

Hillary Clinton told the confirmation hearing that she and outgoing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have had several long conversations on the six-party process as part what she said is an “aggressive review” of North Korea policy by the Obama team.

Clinton Says US Should Use ‘Smart Power’ With Diplomacy in Lead

Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton told senators Tuesday that the Obama administration will exercise “smart power” in international affairs with diplomacy taking the lead.

Clinton made no direct criticism of the outgoing Bush administration, but she clearly suggested that it was overly-ideological and relied too much on military power, rather than diplomacy, to project U.S. influence.

In an opening statement at the Foreign Relations Committee hearing, the secretary-designate said the Obama administration will seek a world “with more partners and fewer adversaries.”

Clinton said she and President-elect Obama believe that foreign policy must be based on a blend of principles and pragmatism, and not rigid ideology, emotions or prejudice.

“I believe that American leadership has been wanting, but is still wanted. We must use what has been called smart power, the full range of tools at our disposal – diplomatic, economic, military, political, legal and cultural, picking the right tool or combination of tools for each situation. With smart power, diplomacy will be the vanguard of our foreign policy. This is not a radical idea. The ancient Roman poet Terrence declared that in every endeavor, the seemly course for wise men is to try persuasion first. The same truth binds wise women as well,” she said.

Clinton signaled that she intends to build up the U.S. diplomatic corps, noting that Defense Secretary Robert Gates – who will be a Republican holdover in the new administration – has said the State Department and other U.S. civilian agencies abroad have been under-funded and under-manned for too long.

The secretary-designate outlined the general principles of the incoming administration but offered few specifics, saying key issues such as the idea of opening a U.S. diplomatic post in Iran, remain under review.

She did stress a continuing U.S. commitment to seeking peace between Israel and the Palestinians, pointedly expressing concern about civilian casualties on both sides resulting from the current conflict in Gaza.

Voice of America

Hillary Moves to Widen Role of State Dept.

WASHINGTON — Even before taking office, Hillary Rodham Clinton is seeking to build a more powerful State Department, with a bigger budget, high-profile special envoys to trouble spots and an expanded role in dealing with global economic issues at a time of crisis.

Mrs. Clinton is recruiting Jacob J. Lew, the budget director under President Bill Clinton, as one of two deputies, according to people close to the Obama transition team. Mr. Lew’s focus, they said, will be on increasing the share of financing that goes to the diplomatic corps. He and James B. Steinberg, a deputy national security adviser in the Clinton administration, are to be Mrs. Clinton’s chief lieutenants.

Nominations of deputy secretaries, like Mrs. Clinton’s, would be subject to confirmation by the Senate.

The incoming administration is also likely to name several envoys, officials said, reviving a practice of the Clinton administration, when Richard C. Holbrooke, Dennis Ross and other diplomats played a central role in mediating disputes in the Balkans and the Middle East.

As Mrs. Clinton puts together her senior team, officials said, she is also trying to carve out a bigger role for the State Department in economic affairs, where the Treasury has dominated during the Bush years. She has sought advice from Laura D’Andrea Tyson, an economist who headed Mr. Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers.

The steps seem intended to strengthen the role of diplomacy after a long stretch, particularly under Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, in which the Pentagon, the vice president’s office and even the intelligence agencies held considerable sway over American foreign policy.

No one has forgotten Powell’s plea for the rush to War at the UN while holding up a vial of faux yellow-cake for the camera. Showmanship has always been a Powell strength mainly used for residual credibility for the public’s consumption. Powell is the Forrest Gumperism of the Bush dynasty. Take him out of moth balls and you don’t know what to expect.

Given Mrs. Clinton’s prominence, expanding the department’s portfolio could bring on conflict with other powerful cabinet members.

Mrs. Clinton and President-elect Barack Obama have not settled on specific envoys or missions, although Mr. Ross’s name has been mentioned as a possible Middle East envoy, as have those of Mr. Holbrooke and Martin Indyk, a former United States ambassador to Israel.

The Bush administration has made relatively little use of special envoys. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has personally handled most peacemaking initiatives, which has meant a punishing schedule of Middle East missions, often with meager results.

“There’s no question that there is a reinvention of the wheel here,” said Aaron David Miller, a public policy analyst at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. “But it’s geared not so much as a reaction to Bush as to a fairly astute analysis of what’s going to work in foreign policy.”

Hardly- No one is reinventing the wheel here. What Mrs Clinton mission is, is replacing the wheels fallen off and left by the wayside since 2000.

NYT

100 more signature… Thanks!….YOU ROCK!

There is still time to sign…before this petition goes to Gov Paterson!

PETITION TO GOVERNOR PATERSON

There are two other choices for consideration…Kirsten Gillibrand and Carol Maloney!