The estimable Charles Pierce brought this to my attention:
Recently, the great Alec MacGillis at ProPublica revealed the way a coal company was planning to use the bankruptcy laws to rob the pensions of retired miners. Almost as soon as this trickeration came to light, both Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton jumped on the issue with both feet, HRC saying in a statement that:
"Patriot Coal is trying to take $18 million of the $22 million put aside for retired coal miners, wives and widows and use it to pay its lawyers instead…Ensuring healthcare and retirement security should be the first priority in a bankruptcy proceeding, not the last." It is the second time in two weeks that Clinton has taken aim at a company. Last week, she criticized Turing Pharmaceuticals AG for raising the price of an anti-infective drug to $750 from $13.50 per pill, sending industry stocks tumbling.
Say what you will, but this issue was far out of the spotlight of the campaign. (Hell, it only involves the survival of widows and people with black lung. It's not like it's a four-year old e-mail from Sid Blumenthal or something.) The public pressure was enough for lawmakers to put the kibosh on the scheme, which is an unmitigated good for all concerned. Neither Clinton had to step in on this situation. Both of them did, including the one running for president. Enough of her heart is in enough of the right places for me, thanks.
A tweet from her sends Big Pharma stocks tumbling. A few words from her and Bill save the futures of mining families.
That's the sort of power you have when people who know what's really happening -- not the talking heads, not the bored reporters, not the people who make more money from "horse races" than sure things -- also know that you're going to be president come January of 2017.
When Hillary Clinton talks, people listen.
(UPDATE: Oh, almost forgot the biggest deal of them all, the biggest proof that she's going to be our next president: What happened when she came out against the TPP. More on that below the orange Cheezy Poof.)
What happened when she came out against the TPP? She put it in real danger of not passing, that's what.
George Zornick, the Washington, DC political editor of The Nation, said as much. And he's not the only person to say so.
Here's Zornick on the effect Hillary has had on the TPP debate (emphases mine):
There will be endless analysis and chatter about how this impacts the Democratic presidential primary—but forget that for now. The real intrigue is how Clinton has impacted what’s sure to be a close vote in Congress on the TPP next year, because from almost any angle, Clinton’s position will make its passage much more difficult.
[...]
Twenty-eight Democrats were needed to get the legislation through the House, and about the same amount will be needed to pass the TPP—perhaps more, if Donald Trump and other GOP candidates continue to rail against the deal and move Republican support away from the pact.
Those 28 Democrats were already under serious pressure from unions and progressive activists not to support fast track, and the TPP vote will be even more intense. The vote will likely occur in early to mid-February, right after or during the primaries in Iowa in New Hampshire.
[...]
To get Democrats across the line for fast track, President Obama made countless personal appeals to members. Some Democrats described it as the most intense congressional push of his presidency. Clinton’s announcement also handicaps his ability to pull off the same feat for the TPP. There’s a point in every election year where members of a party start worrying much more about their future leader, and much less about the person who will be a private citizen in a matter of months.
And here is what
Hal Ginsberg, a Bernie Sanders supporter and longtime critic of Hillary Clinton, has to say about her opposition to the TPP -- and you can tell how much he hates having to say this (or how much he fears attacks from his comrades in arms) by how he lards his begrudging praise with qualifiers that almost, but not quite, negate it:
But my initial reaction was not cynicism. In fact, Hillary's decision to forsake her corporate backers and speak out against the TPP delights me. Likewise, I applaud Clinton for opposing the Obama administration's decision to permit Shell to drill in the Arctic and the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. Her call Thursday to break up the big banks and for taxing computerized securities trading is also most welcome.
[...]
... Her volte-face against the financial elites demonstrates real political bravery as expected assaults from the likes of the Washington Post's editorial page and columnist Ruth Marcus have materialized. It may even have real world implications if Clinton's announcement sways moderate Democrats to deny President Obama a TPP victory. Moreover, fairness requires progressives who have taken issue with her for "being kind of moderate and center" to praise her when she says the right things.
None of this means I am reconsidering my support for Bernie Sanders. ... But Clinton has certainly strengthened the case that she is an ally in the fight for economic and environmental justice.
--------------------
UPDATE the Second: So far, the main criticisms from the anti-Hillary crowd in the comments have been as follows:
1. "It's all a coincidence, especially with the drug price thingy."
Really? Really? That's not what Bloomberg News said (emphases mine):
Clinton's Tweet on High Drug Prices Sends Biotech Stocks Down
The drug company CEO under fire for boosting the cost of a decades-old medicine by 50-fold defended the decision, calling the treatment a bargain at $750 a pill.
Martin Shkreli, a former hedge fund manager who is now chief executive officer of Turing Pharmaceuticals AG, was called out by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Clinton tweeted that she would soon release a plan to combat the high cost of prescription drugs. Biotechnology stocks fell after her comment.
Clinton’s comment on Twitter sent the 144-member Nasdaq Biotechnology Index down 4.7 percent to 3,556.58 at 1:08 p.m. in New York, the biggest intraday drop since Aug. 24. Health-care stocks were the worst-performing subgroup on the broader Nasdaq index.
"Price gouging like this in the specialty drug market is outrageous," Clinton tweeted at 10:56 a.m. "Tomorrow I’ll lay out a plan to take it on."
Here's a graphic showing just how fast the market for biotech stocks tanked after her comment.
And Bloomberg wasn't the only business expert to ascribe such power to Hillary's remarks. Here's how CNN's Money described it:
Hillary Clinton tweet crushes biotech stocks
Wall Street is already betting that a President Hillary Clinton may not be good for the red-hot biotech industry.
Notice the subheader: "Wall Street is already betting that a President Hillary Clinton may not be good for the red-hot biotech industry." They're already figuring she's got the gig. One single Tweet from her sends these guys into a fear frenzy.
2. "She didn't seriously hinder the TPP because Fast Track, so nyahh."
As I've been telling people pitching this concept in the comments, read the article from The Nation. The timing of the TPP vote is going to come right smack in the early primaries, and when every one of the major Democratic presidential candidates -- Clinton, Sanders, and O'Malley -- is now officially on record as opposing the TPP, that's something that's got to weigh on the minds of the twenty-eight Democratic House members whose approval is essential if the TPP is to pass. Do you please your old boss, who won't be in office by this time next year -- or do you please your new one, who is guaranteed to be against TPP? (And no, Joe Biden will never be president. Sorry.)