The Queen: The Epic Ambition of Hillary and the Coming of a Second "Clinton Era" Read Free

American politics, and it is possible they would not be good for the Americans over 50 alive today, because they would be unsettling. But they might be good for the country long-term. If you wish to dominate an era as Reagan did, you have to steal from the other party their best parts and people, as Reagan did, as Nixon did. You have to co-opt. Certainly you cannot stick with the disastrous ideological choices of the Obama-Jarrett years. (And yes, you should begin to use that phrase about as soon as the ballots are in, perhaps having Bill do it before the Inauguration, and you thereafter. Not often. Just here and there, always with a smile.)
    We begin at the beginning: The oldest rule of politics: Unify your side. Divide your opponents.
    A newer rule of politics: Tell everyone exactly what you intend to do. (See Part III on “Transparency” for more details.)
    Here, in five ideas, is what you should do, and what the GOP ought to be preparing to see you do (but won’t, because they have never been much on the imagination front, have they?). And not just to win in 2016, but to establish a long, enduring—very, very, long enduring—second Clinton Era.
    These five ideas/proposals would certainly form a core of your campaign that would make you unbeatable, so here are the five things I suggest you make central to your campaign:
    1.    A constitutional amendment abolishing the Electoral College and substituting in its place a direct election of the president by popular vote.
    2.    A constitutional amendment abolishing the two term limit on the presidency.
    3.    A constitutional amendment mandating that 5% of GDP be spent on the Pentagon’s budget, with safeguards that the money actually be spent on soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines and the equipment they need, and not on absurd “tack-ons” like “green energy” production for military bases. Rebuild the military and detach it from the GOP, and do so before a coup becomes a reality in the next forty years.
    4.    An ironclad commitment to massive development of our own energy resources, via fracking onshore and select development of new offshore resources, via out-of-sight platform drilling. Campaign on authorizing the Keystone XL Pipeline, once you have the nomination. What is Mr. Steyer going to do? Disown you? The left will think you’re posturing. Some in the center will be seduced. Cite the statistic that for every energy job created, four are generated downstream of it. Sell the true statement that “Energy is freedom,” and cite the knowledge you gained as Secretary of State of the Third World’s desperate need for energy to alleviate poverty and power growth.
    This will be the hardest of all the backflips you must accomplish, a full-throated embrace of the fossil fuels you are on record as saying are destroying the planet. And like Canadian figure skater Kevin Reynolds’ first ever “double quad” on ice in a competitive event in 2010, it will be unprecedented and very difficult to seize a GOP core position and persuade your side it was necessary and indeed worth doing.
    5.    A near-complete amnesty for all illegal immigrants coupled with an ironclad commitment to the immediate construction of a long, double-sided, high fence covering at least half the length of the 2,000-mile, Mexican-American border. The GOP has long failed to understand how to make this dual commitment work, to see in it the easiest way to hit the sweet spot. To your supporters on the left assure them the gate in the fence will be wide. Open it soon after construction is complete. Then close it prior to 2020. Then open again thereafter. With the majorities you build in your demographic surge you can put forward the Constitutional amendment removing term-limits on the presidency.
    Now that is a Clinton Era with genuine historic significance.
    These five proposals would energize the left beyond any measure we have seen in the past (including the Obama ’08