DENVER—Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday if she is elected president next year, she would consider giving up some of the executive powers President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have assumed since taking office.
“I have said that I will conduct a very serious review of how the Bush-Cheney administration has grabbed power. Everywhere we look, we see that. They have ignored checks and balances, they have disregarded the separation of powers, they have this theory of the so-called unitary executive, and then Vice President Cheney has a whole different theory about how he’s a fourth branch of government.
“We’ve got to take a hard look at this and say wait a minute, this is out of whack with our constitutional framework and values and I’m going to take a look at everything, and I intend to get into that, as soon as I can be inaugurated and start acting on it. We’re going to get back to what I view as the constitutional framework and balance of checks that we need,” she said during a rally Tuesday at Metro State College.
In an interview published Tuesday in Guardian America, a Web site run by the London-based Guardian newspaper, Clinton denounced the Bush Administration’s push to concentrate more power in the White House as a “power grab” not supported by the Constitution.
Republican National Committee spokesman Danny Diaz doubted Clinton would give up any power.
“The reality is that Hillary Clinton, much like Bill, will say and do anything to win political office and will conveniently forget their promises in short order,” he said.
Clinton said during the Bush administration, “we’ve seen an orgy of cronyism and no-bid contracts, no accountability. It’s just unbelievable.”
She also said she can win next year’s presidential election and promised to restore prosperity and peace if she is elected.
Clinton said voters will elect her because she is qualified, not because she’s a woman.
“If you are ready for change, I am ready to lead,” she told her supporters. “I’m not running because I’m a woman, I’m running because I’m the most qualified,” she said.
Clinton said she would launch a program to develop new and renewable sources of energy that would rival the space race and the Apollo program that put a man on the moon.
“I want to light that Apollo fire,” she said.
She also touted her health care proposal, which she compared to the lavish health insurance programs enjoyed by members of Congress and federal employees that offer 250 options.
“If it’s good enough for Congress and federal employees, it’s good enough for America,” she said.
Clinton also urged states not to wait for the federal government to come up with a health care plan next year.
She said states are good laboratories for developing innovative ideas and they should come up with their own plans.
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