Yuck!!
Theodore Roosevelt is not a good role model for a Democratic politician. And "take on" does not mean cutting and raising taxes in such a way as to leave oil companies' finances unchanged.
The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire watchesthe continuing train wreck:
Washington Wire - WSJ.com : Clinton: Teddy Would Take On Big Oil: Hillary Clinton, trying to catch up to Barack Obama in the hunt for the Democratic nomination, continues to press a long-shot plan to put the federal gas tax on hiatus and make up for lost revenue with an additional tax on oil companies’ profits.
In recent days, the New York senator has begun stressing some of the more symbolic aspects of the plan, even nodding to a certain turn-of-the-20th-century, macho-man Republican: Theodore Roosevelt.
“It’s not only that I want to give you some immediate relief,” she said during a town-hall style Q&A at a Portland television station Friday night. “I want to begin to lay the groundwork for people to understand what Teddy Roosevelt understood … You’ve got to have the oil companies in some way, reigned in, because they are all-powerful. They have too much control over our economy and over what everything costs in the economy. So I think both in terms of immediate relief and in terms of laying down some markers about going after the oil companies, I have a responsible position.”
Earlier in the day, while taking questions at a private residence in Junction City, near Eugene, Clinton made a similar point: “I think it’s time for us to start taking on the oil companies. A hundred years ago, Teddy Roosevelt took on the oil trusts, and, you know, really broke them up … . Now it’s time to take them on again.”
While Clinton has often expressed admiration for the accomplishments of Franklin Roosevelt, it’s hard to know how far she’ll carry her affection for Teddy. Washington Wire will alert readers if she starts sporting pince-nez spectacles.
This is beyond embarrassing.