McConville: In Case You Missed It – Hillary’s Empty Speech
by Jay McConville
For those of you who were smart enough to stay away, and thus missed the big moment of Hillary Clinton’s convention speech, let me set your mind at ease. You didn’t miss much.
Since I wrote a blog post after Trump’s speech (thanks Bearing Drift!) I figured I would do the same after Hillary’s. I watched her acceptance speech in its entirety this morning, and I read the transcript. I guess I had some time to kill, or maybe I was hoping to hear something specific or meaningful. Well, I spent the time, but honestly, I got nothing.
Hillary Clinton’s speech was about as empty as a candidate speech could be. She punched out, in her grating staccato, a bunch of well worn, focus-group tested lines, but said nothing in the end.
But since I had my coffee already, and had taken notes, I figured I might as well put my impressions to paper. So here it is:
To start things off, and befitting a world-renowned liar, she set up her theme (which I summarize as “working together”) with a cutesy but dishonest attack on Donald Trump, claiming he was proposing that he alone could run the country and fix our nation’s problems. She said; “And most of all, don’t believe anyone who says: “I alone can fix it. Those were actually Donald Trump’s words in Cleveland. And they should set off alarm bells for all of us. Really? I alone can fix it? Isn’t he forgetting? Troops on the front lines. Police officers and fire fighters who run toward danger. Doctors and nurses who care for us. Teachers who change lives. Entrepreneurs who see possibilities in every problem. Mothers who lost children to violence and are building a movement to keep other kids safe. He’s forgetting every last one of us. Americans don’t say: “I alone can fix it.” We say: “We’ll fix it together.”
Of course the line “I alone can fix it” is correct, Trump did utter those words, but in typical Clintonesque fashion that line was taken dishonestly out of context. Donald Trump never claimed that he alone could fix every problem in America, he was talking specifically about the rigged political system that has benefitted the Clintons. That it has is not debatable, given the paired facts that the Clinton’s, who have been in politics their whole lives, have amassed a personal fortune in the tune of $150 million and that DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, in a breathtaking scandal, had to resign before the convention due to revelations that she, and her DNC, helped rig the Democrat primary in favor of Hillary Clinton.
What Donald Trump actually said was, “I have joined the political arena so that the powerful can no longer beat up on people who cannot defend themselves. Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it. I have seen firsthand how the system was rigged against our citizens, just as it was rigged against Bernie Sanders. He never had a chance.”
He was talking about Clinton’s brand of political corruption, and saying that he was the only candidate (i.e. not Hillary) who could fix it, but she spun that into a hit on him, and made it her theme. In essence, her entire speech was kicked off with a lie. So typically Clinton.
Next, like in any political speech, she had to list some accomplishments to build up her qualifications for the job. It is illuminating how empty this section of the speech was. She noted some “job titles” – which are nice but not actually accomplishments, as any resume writer can tell you. She listed writing her book “It Takes a Village,” mentioned her time going door-to-door for the Children’s Defense Fund, claimed credit for getting disabled children better educational opportunities, claimed she helped to pass the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and touted her help for 9/11 First Responders and families. And that was it. Clearly she preferred not to talk about all the great legislation she passed as a Senator (because there isn’t any) or what she did as Secretary of State (for obvious reasons).
Hitting her stride in the middle of the speech, she got really boring, and after analysis, a bit strange. The middle section had the most detail, if you can call it that. Building on the theme, she railed that working together, with her in charge, we would fight to ensure that the “economy works for everyone and not only those at the top” (like her?) and that the Democrats are the party of working people. Together, said HRC, we can make things better. And to prove this she was going to lay out her plans (she likes plans) to get the economy moving. At this point I was pen in hand, waiting for those great initiatives that were going to energize the stagnant Obama economy. Imagine my surprise when this was her list:
- Supreme Court appointees who will “take money out of politics” by silencing business voices
- Amending the 1st Amendment to put restrictions on speech (more on that below)
- A vague call for more “Climate Change” regulation
- A “path to citizenship” for illegal immigrants
- Raising of the minimum wage
- More Obamacare
- Trade protectionism
- Free college tuition and debt relief/refinancing for student debt (paid for by whom?)
- Paid family leave (imposed by government, and paid by employers no doubt)
- “Affordable child care” (presumably subsidized by business and government)
- Tax increases
- Expanded Social Security spending
- Government enforced “pay equity” regulations
- “A woman’s right to choose” (yeah, I don’t get that one either)
- And…the biggest “investment” since WWII in creating jobs through government programs and infrastructure projects – bigger, I take it, than the Obama stimulus.
Say what you want about these buzz phrases disguised as “plans,” but none of them support robust economic growth. For a speech about helping workers, there was nary a note on supporting the businesses that hire and pay these workers. Nothing to help businesses get out of the big-government, spend-and-regulate malaise stifling our economy today. Clinton’s plan for (supposedly) helping workers lists only initiatives that will work to make job creation harder; by raising the cost of each worker, taxing the business that pay them, and imposing even more regulations and mandates on companies that do business in America. If the Obama economy has been hampered by over-spending, over-taxing and over-regulating, Hillary just promised to double-down.
I have to admit that the line about amending the U.S. Constitution (“And if necessary we’ll pass a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United!”) was at least specific. What it has to do with helping workers, I cannot fathom. But for those wondering what she was talking about, I give you this passage from the great book “The Intimidation Game, How the Left is Silencing Free Speech” by Kimberley Strassel (Twelve, Hachette Book Group, NY, June 2016):
“And so on September 11, 2014, fifty-four members of the Senate Democratic caucus voted to do something that had never been attempted in the history of this glorious country: They voted to alter the First Amendment. Henceforth, ‘Congress and the states may regulate and set reasonable limits on the raising and spending of money by candidates and others to influence elections,’ and may outright ‘prohibit’ corporations and non-profits from spending any money ‘to influence elections.’”
So there is that. At least it is specific. Got that business people? Create jobs, but shut up.
Then, with an obligatory nod to police and fireman and the US Military, a bit about Veterans (nothing specific mind you) and a listing of all her favored special interests, she went back to attacking Trump.
Interestingly the crowd was pretty quiet when she talked about defeating ISIS, but loved the anti-Trump stuff. So we know what to expect in the coming months.
There were a few funny lines. Well, funny to me. For example:
“Now, here’s the thing, we’re not only going to make all these investments, we’re going to pay for every single one of them. And here’s how: Wall Street, corporations, and the super-rich are going to start paying their fair share of taxes.” Notice how she says “we’re going to pay” but then immediately says she’s going to tax the heck out of the “super-rich” to pay for it? So, I guess “we’re” not paying, they are. Funny stuff!
And this: “Because when more than 90% of the gains have gone to the top 1%, that’s where the money is. And we are going to follow the money.” Maybe I’m crazy, but if I was a speech writer for the Clinton’s, given the attention on the Clinton Foundation, foreign contributions, and influence-peddling, I wouldn’t use the term “follow the money.” Maybe someone over there has a sense of humor!
Finally, with her voice rising to an awful screech, she wrapped it up, “So let’s be stronger together, my fellow Americans. Looking to the future with courage and confidence. Let’s build a better tomorrow for our beloved children and our beloved country. And when we do, American will be greater than ever.” Meaty stuff, that.
She also said, “Yes, the world is watching what we do. Yes, America’s destiny is ours to choose.”
Yes they are, and yes it is. After this profoundly empty speech, and her pandering and corrupt candidacy, I wish the world was not watching, and I pray America chooses #NeverHillary.
Can I have my hour back?
Jay McConville is a former chairman of the Fairfax County Republican Committee and a former candidate for Virginia House of Delegates.
