Hillary Clinton's position on a key issue, often there's an easy way to know: it's usually the same as President Barack Obama's. From community college (make it free) to ending the U.S. embargo with Cuba (a good idea) to going around Republicans in Congress and using executive power to change U.S. policy on immigration (yes) to creating a Medicare-for-all style health system (no) to raising the minimum wage (yes, but not to $15 an hour),
Clinton's stances have closely mirrored those of Obama. The president refuses to say if he supports the creation of the Keystone XL pipeline and vetoed a bill authorizing it earlier this year because he said he wanted to wait until the end of a review by the State Department. Clinton won't take a position either. Related: Inside Hillary Clinton's Big New College Proposal One of the biggest differences between the country's two leading Democrats is on trade and even there it is not large: Obama is a strong supporter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership,
a sweeping multinational trade deal which most congressional Democrats and the party's other presidential candidates oppose. Clinton has so far not taken a firm position on it. It's not surprising that two Democrats agree on many issues, but the overlap between the pair is striking. The similarity likely illustrates an awareness from Clinton that distancing herself from Obama would not help her in the Democrat primary. It also reflects the deep connections between Obama's team and Clinton's.
"President Obama and Secretary Clinton have shared the experience of governing. They both know that for policy platforms to be implemented, they have to work their way through Washington's governing process. Neither can afford simply to pander," said Ari Ratner, who worked on Obama's 2008 campaign and then served as a policy advisor in the State Department under Clinton. Many of Clinton's top advisers were deeply involved in some of Obama's top policy achievements. Clinton policy adviser Neera Tanden and Clinton director of state campaigns and political engagement Marlon Marshall were a part of the conception and implementation of Obamacare.
Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta helped craft the president's initiatives to combat climate change. Before joining Clinton's campaign as a senior policy adviser,Jake Sullivan, had been one of Obama's chief negotiators with Iran. When Sullivan recently said that in his own "personal view" the nuclear agreement the U.S and other nations reached with Iran was "the best and most effective way to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon," he was in some ways defending his own work. All of their views on these issues are likely to inform Clinton's. Facebook Twitter Google PlusEmbed Clinton Tells Urban League 'Black Lives Matter' 1:52 Clinton herself was also a top Obama adviser as secretary of state. She has bragged about her role in crafting the sanctions against Iran that helped lead to the nuclear agreement. With almost the entire Republican Party against it and many top Democrats either opposed or only cautiously in support, Obama has been on a lonely crusade to build support for the nuclear agreement. But Clinton has joined him.
"That's a very bad signal to send in a quickly-moving and oftentimes dangerous world," she added. Related: Sec. Kerry Fiercely Defends Iran Nuclear Deal to Congress Republicans have seized on Clinton's embrace of Obama's policies, with Jeb Bush and other GOP candidates often blasting the "Obama-Clinton foreign policy," linking the two Democrats closely.
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