18 Jan, 2016 14:35

‘Hillary Clinton playing into the hands of corporations‘

There is no doubt the Democratic Party frontrunner Hillary Clinton is a big corporatist, whereas Bernie Sanders is definitely not by American standards in hands of the corporations, says political cartoonist Ted Rall.

RT: Hillary Clinton praised her experience during the presidential debate. How solid is her track record actually?

Ted Rall: Clinton was a senator from New York starting in 2000. And her main accomplishment appears to have been voting for the war in Iraq. She certainly didn’t do much for the people of New York while she was in the Senate. I don’t think she has much to brag about there…

RT: How close is Hillary Clinton to Wall Street?

TR: Clinton was on the board of Walmart for years. Walmart is the most notorious, anti-labor, anti-worker corporation in the US, the largest employer in the US, violently anti-union. And Clinton was never against that agenda whatsoever. She did accept $600,000 in direct speaking fees from Goldman Sachs. And it is not even including the campaign contributions she received from Wall Street firms. You have to tag her for the fact that she supported NAFTA and the WTO, and the GATT - and all these free trade agreements that were playing into the hands of transnational corporations. There is no doubt that she is a big corporatist. There’s no doubt, Bernie Sanders has his faults particularly on foreign policy, militarism and imperialism, but Bernie Sanders is definitely not by American standards in hands of the corporations.

Jerome White, former presidential candidate for the Socialist equality party, commented on Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders presidential debates: “The frontrunner for the Democratic Party has a lot of blood on her hands, e.g. supporting the war in Iraq, the extension of wars in Libya as well as in Syria – the extent of the experience of protecting the interests of the same billionaires that tonight all of the candidates tried to distant themselves from. Bernie Sanders campaign has very much been an effort to corral the growing movement to the left of workers and young people, a radicalization in the working class".

RT: Bernie Sanders is ahead of Clinton in according to polls in two states? Is he getting increasingly dangerous for Hillary?

TR: Senator Sanders seems to be defying all the expectations. It seems that even in Iowa right now the vast majority of Iowa voters under the age of 35 – are now identifying themselves more as socialists than capitalists, according to a recent poll. And Bernie Sanders seems to be benefiting from that. Right now if I was a betting man I’d put my money on Bernie Sanders to win the Iowa caucus and certainly, New Hampshire as a primary. South Carolina could go either way. But there is now a credible path to the democratic nomination for Bernie Sanders…

RT: Bernie Sanders appears to be popular among the young people. What's the appeal to them?

TR: I think this is a year that seems to be dedicated to the authenticity both on the left and on the right with Donald Trump… Bernie Sanders really is authentic. The interesting thing about Bernie Sanders is that he really has been in the same place for the last 50 years politically… He believes what he is saying.