Young Iowa Democrats still associate Hillary Clinton with crony capitalism nearly seven years after progressive Iowans rejected her for Barack Obama.
Before Clinton returned to the state on Sunday for the first time since 2008, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviewed young Iowa Democrats for “Meet the Press.”
A law student told Mitchell that he was looking for someone more liberal than Clinton who talks about “income inequality.” He said Clinton is “malleable” like Romney, which often is shorthand for standing for nothing except for getting elected.
Mitchell then asked another young liberal Iowan what came to mind when Hillary Clinton is mentioned.
“A politician, a woman, a president?” Mitchell asked.
Carla, the young woman who works at a non-profit organization, basically said none of the above and rejected Mitchell’s leading question. To her, Clinton represented cronyism.
“I think people see kind of the cronyism on Wall Street,” Carla said. “Her biggest supporters is Wall Street. She’s currently on the circuit giving speeches to Goldman Sachs. Regular people might see that as something that they are not looking for anymore.”
Carla said that she would “love to see the first woman president, but it doesn’t matter more to me than my progressive values.” A third Iowan said she supported Clinton because she was willing to compromise, but that is precisely the malleability that seemed to turn off the other two Iowa progressives.