Galindez writes: "There is a clear need for debate in the Democratic Party nominating process. Clinton should be tested and challenged. But I hope Lincoln Chafee is not in the race just take down Hillary Clinton."
Lincoln Chafee. (photo: Lincoln Chafee/ABC News)
05 May 15
hen I started seeing reports that Lincoln Chafee was considering a run for president, I wondered why. I didn’t even know he had left the Republican Party and joined the Democrats. Then I came across a column by Matt Bai, and it clicked: Chafee might not be in this race to win, he might be in the race to stop Hillary Clinton. As Bai correctly points out, candidates like Howard Dean end up losing because they attack the frontrunner too much and are seen as too angry.
While Martin O’Malley has staked out positions to the left of Clinton, he has refrained from attacking her. Although it is true that the Republicans are working overtime in the attack-Clinton arena, for Clinton to be derailed, someone in the Democratic debates will need to play that role. If O’Malley wants to be the one who becomes the alternative to Clinton, it would be best for him to keep his hands clean. Bernie Sanders has not run a negative ad in his entire political career, and has refrained from any attacks on the presumptive nominee. He will continue to stick to the issues.
Jim Webb is not going to raise the kind of money needed to stay in the race long enough, and will be easily dismissed as a Reagan appointee who opposes affirmative action. Chafee won’t have to raise large amounts of money to stay in long enough to do damage to Clinton. In 2005, he was the 8th wealthiest senator, worth over 55 million dollars.
Chafee has already begun to take aim at Clinton. “Expediency seems to be a word that is associated with Senator Clinton on important issues,” he said about her recent changes on issues like trade, same-sex marriage, and driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants. Chafee said Clinton is someone who would “put her finger into the air and see which way the wind is blowing, and then make a decision on an important issue.” When it comes to Iraq, Chafee becomes animated, raising his arms as he speaks. “The Iraq War is a perfect example. Now, I did my homework. And now we live with the consequences. She (Clinton) did not do her homework and got it wrong. It was a bad vote.”
I think Howard Dean, Jerry Brown and others were in it to win, and while his motives are speculation on my part, Chafee too may believe he can win.
Although I don’t see a path to the nomination for Chafee, I will admit that as I began to research his record I expected him to be to the right of Jim Webb. Both have been Republicans in the past. However, after looking closer, I have to conclude that Chafee is to the left of Webb. Chafee’s record is very mixed. A quick look at the thousands of ratings put out by various organizations show very inconsistent patterns. Chafee had high ratings by labor, conservative groups, liberal groups, the John Birch Society, and Americans for Democratic Action. He is pro-choice, supports privatizing Social Security, and is a hawk when it comes to defense spending – but he was a leading opponent of the Iraq war. Here is why I think he is to the left of Webb but to the right of O’Malley and Hillary Clinton:
Israel
Chafee, who is on the advisory board of J Street, is not an AIPAC soundbite Democrat. J Street calls for Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories and for a two state solution. According to Wikipedia, in Congress Chafee was described as a “particularly strong opponent” of AIPAC. Chafee has criticized what he has characterized as a Biblical influence on U.S. policy with respect to Israel. He has said he opposes the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Gun Control
The NRA gave Chafee an F, which gives him a huge leg up on Jim Webb.
Democracy
This is one of those head-scratchers. Chafee wants to be a Democrat but he supports Voter ID laws. There isn’t an issue that benefits the Republicans more. Voter ID laws are not about preventing non-citizens from voting, they are about limiting votes from the poor.
Economy
It looks to me like Chafee wasn’t a 100% RINO (Republican in name only). His economic policies are not as liberal as his positions on social issues. He consistently opposes raising corporate taxes and supports privatizing Social Security.
He advocated pay-as-you-go budgeting. Chafee: “I’m all for tax cuts as long as we can cut our spending. The difficulty has been that we cut the taxes but we don’t cut our spending. We’ve had some tremendous unforeseen costs – with 9/11, the war in Iraq & Afghanistan, and Katrina. I think we should prepare for those, and I don’t believe tax cuts, as long as we’re not cutting our spending, is a wise course to take. During the 1990s, we had something called ‘pay as you go.’ We would not enact any spending programs that we couldn’t pay for with revenue.”
Immigration
Chafee supported the Kennedy/McCain immigration reform legislation. He supports guest worker programs that give a path to citizenship. He opposed building a wall along the border with Mexico.
Education
Back to the right on education, Chafee supports school choice and vouchers for private schools. He believes in local control over education.
We could keep going back and forth, right to left, but we might get whiplash.
I hope Lincoln Chafee becomes a responsible candidate and is not in the race just take down Hillary Clinton. There is a clear need for debate in the Democratic Party nominating process. Clinton should be tested and challenged. I’m not saying Lincoln Chafee shouldn’t attack her, but his campaign needs to be about more than attacking Hillary Clinton.
Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian, and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott will be spending a year covering the presidential election from Iowa.
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