The politics of immigration, marriage, and crime have changed a lot since the 1990s.
Craig Fuji / ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hillary Clinton called for changes to the criminal justice system last week in a speech at Columbia University that rejected the "tough on crime" agenda pushed by her husband and centrist Democrats and Republicans in the 1990s.
But that's not the only area where Clinton has moved to the left of her husband's legacy. Some of the shifts, like her position on same-sex marriage, reflect an overall shift in the Democratic Party — and in the country — but many of the issues were ones her husband used to win political battles during his 1996 re-election campaign and presidency.
Here's a look at three issues that Hillary Clinton's campaign is focused on that rejects policies her husband pushed and campaigned on.
About a week after he signed the Defense of Marriage Act, in September 1996, Bill Clinton signed an appropriations bill that included measures meant to reduce illegal immigration.
Among these were enhancements to border security, a 12-month deadline to submit asylum applications, and a rule banning undocumented immigrants who had spent over a year in the country from returning to the United States for 10 years after leaving or being deported. Bill Clinton said then that the bill "strengthens the rule of law by cracking down on illegal immigration at the border, in the workplace, and in the criminal justice system — without punishing those living in the United States legally."
The month before, the president had signed a welfare package that blocked some legal immigrants from receiving food stamps.
At the time, public opinion in much of the country was in line with these positions.
Clinton's campaign ad touted his signing of "a tough anti-illegal immigration law," his record-setting deportations, and the increase of border patrol agents during his first term:
buzzfeed-video1.s3.amazonaws.com
Source BuzzFeed - Politics http://ift.tt/1Rl7los
0 comments:
Post a Comment