washington<u+2014>if hillary clinton wins, she likely would preserve president barack obama <u+2019>s legacy on a multitude of domestic and foreign policies, from ensuring his health care law isn<u+2019>t legislatively undone to maintaining an agreement with iran to restrain its nuclear program. those policies, among others championed by mr. obama, are likely to unravel if republican donald trump takes the white house. with those stakes, mr. obama campaigned more visibly for his former secretary of state than any modern sitting president has for his party<u+2019>s nominee. both mr. obama and mrs. clinton<u+2014>rivals eight years ago for the democratic nomination<u+2014>recognized that their goals would be reached or fail together, that his policy advances were on the line and that she would struggle to win the white house without his supporters. mrs. clinton highlighted their partnership while campaigning this fall. <u+201c>we need ideas, not insults, real plans to help struggling americans in communities that have been left out and left behind<u+2014>not prejudice and paranoia,<u+201d> she said. <u+201c>we can<u+2019>t let barack obama<u+2019>s legacy fall into the hands of someone who doesn<u+2019>t understand that.<u+201d> mrs. clinton<u+2019>s platform isn<u+2019>t a carbon copy of mr. obama<u+2019>s policies. she likely would be more aggressive in using military action to confront adversaries and she opposes some of his trade goals. mr. trump, meantime, has promised to repeal mr. obama<u+2019>s health care law and replace it with a new one, reverse his executive actions aimed at combating climate change and alter the administration<u+2019>s overall approach to foreign policy, the military and national-security issues. mrs. clinton is expected to build on mr. obama<u+2019>s agenda. with her in office, the international climate-change agreement mr. obama helped forge wouldn<u+2019>t be at risk of losing america government support, the restoration of diplomatic relations with cuba likely would progress and efforts to legislatively revamp the u.s. immigration system would be revived. capital journal is wsj.com<u+2019>s home for election 2016 news. the president also has a more personal reason to promote mrs. clinton<u+2019>s election. mr. trump was a leading proponent of false accusations that mr. obama wasn<u+2019>t born in the u.s. <u+201c>i would consider it a personal insult<u+2014>an insult to my legacy<u+2014>if this community lets down its guard,<u+201d> mr. obama told black voters in the closing weeks of the campaign. in the first two years of his presidency, when democrats controlled the house and senate, mr. obama netted his leading domestic policy achievement: the affordable care act. he also won legislation changing financial regulations and a nearly $1 trillion economic stimulus package. but his climate change and immigration ambitions stalled. they never again gained traction in congress. for the remainder of his term, mr. obama leaned on executive authority to effect change. one of his fears was that his successor would enter the white house and do what he did: spend the initial days undoing his predecessor<u+2019>s executive actions. <u+201c>republicans are going to continue to try and legislatively chip away at his record of accomplishments,<u+201d> said jim manley, a former top adviser to senate minority leader harry reid (d., nev.) who contributes opinion pieces to the wall street journal. at the same time, mrs. clinton presents a sharp contrast with mr. obama on certain issues. she opposes the new trade pact in asia, the trans-pacific partnership, that has been a cornerstone of mr. obama<u+2019>s foreign policy agenda . her aides have said she would start from scratch. she also is expected to take a more aggressive stance on syria than mr. obama has. a clinton presidency would also differ from the obama administration in its expected outreach to capitol hill, where republicans are vowing to push a series of investigations of her time as secretary of state. mr. obama didn<u+2019>t use much of his time in the white house to woo lawmakers, a decision for which he was often criticized. mrs. clinton<u+2019>s aides have said she would be far more social and available to members of congress. aides to mr. obama say he is eager to leave the job he has held since january 2009. but they add he wouldn<u+2019>t feel settled about it if mrs. clinton weren<u+2019>t elected. write to carol e. lee at carol.lee@wsj.com
hillary clinton would aim to preserve president obama<u+2019>s legacy  - wsj
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