In the interest of full disclosure, yes, I will be voting for Senator Clinton, but not because I’m a Hillary fan or because I dislike Republicans or even because someone I respect as much as Wes Clark endorsed her. If you’d asked me a year ago, and some of you did, could I imagine any circumstance under which I would vote for Hillary Clinton for president, I would have, and did, say no. Then I remembered what’s best for my country is a hell of a lot more important than what I want, and wrote this comment June 30th:
Well - since then I’ve been paying more attention to her, and the others, and no longer distrust her just as a matter of course. But more on that in a moment. Let me put this issue another way…
This is not the time for amateurs. Considering the particular circumstances in which we find ourselves now and for the foreseeable future, this is not the time for on the job training either.
What’s best for the country is to have a team of pros in the White House on the first day of the new administration come January 2009, who know where the light switches are and how to find the bathrooms without an escort. That includes the president and vice president. Given the possibility that the state of the Union, by 2009, may well include us being at war in three separate countries simultaneously, we don’t have time for any administration to spend reading “How To Run The Country For Dummies.” Currently, there is only one campaign that satisfies that criteria and that’s the Clinton campaign. But let me explain myself by reposting the pertinent part of the comment I mentioned above…
If forced to be dispassionate about her, one might consider the following:
- she lived in the White House for eight years - odds are she probably absorbed a bit while there
- she is far from stupid
- she doesn’t fall apart when things don’t go her way, or when she makes a mistake and gets her ass kicked by the public. There is at least something resembling a backbone there, even if voters don’t always like what she did
- she possibly has a far better grasp of foreign policy and national security and the real value of diplomacy now, and because of those eight years in the White House, than perhaps any other current candidate
- she comes with a spouse who has eight years of experience running the country during one of it’s most successful periods, and one who is well liked by most of the rest of the world and this country…and is brilliant.
- she is the only current candidate who has been a First Lady of a southern state, a senator of a northern state, and the First Lady of the nation - in fact, if you take out the word “lady” she’s still the only one who has represented a northern state for the Senate, a southern state via the Governor’s mansion, and the nation via the White House. Demographically - that’s a home run.
- (New) along with the spouse with eight years of experience, comes an enormous pool of talent who also have the experience of being part of one of the most successful administrations in recent history - people like Wes Clark and Richard Holbrook and Madelaine Albright, for a start. Many of them, some of whom may be be in contention for cabinet posts in her administration, have already been vetted through the Senate conformation process at least once - so it should go pretty quickly if they have to do it again. At least in theory.
In recent posts and comments (all over the blogosphere), I’ve seen several people refer - quite negatively - to the practice of “triangulation”. It seems to bother people more that Hillary may do it than when Bill did it. Maybe because it was a seemingly newer practice when Bill did it. Well, it isn’t new, and it isn’t bad. It’s actually quite smart…unless you happen to be a someone who thinks it’s a bad idea to listen to what constituents think and try to find a way to do as they wish. Yep…that’s bad. Why would anyone want to have a politician listen to and consider the views of all of their constituents, including, God forbid, non-Democratic ones!
For all the yelling we voters do about our representatives not standing up for what they want, we seem to have a bad habit of forgetting they are supposed to stand up for what we want. I’ll take a little more of that triangulation, thanks. Consequently, I am less concerned with whether or not I can trust her personal positions, so long as I can trust she will not further violate the positions of the country.
I’m less concerned she be the smartest person in the room, so long as she is wise enough to surround herself with the smartest people available - even if, and especially if, they are smarter than her. So far, she has demonstrated that wisdom.
I also appreciate that, unlike both Senator Obama and former Senator Edwards, she has paid her political dues by at least completing a full senatorial term before running for the presidency. That demonstrates, at least, that she has some patience. Senators Obama and Edwards haven’t seemed to consider that important. To my thinking, deciding to run for president before one has even completed half of one’s first senatorial term, demonstrates not patience, not loyalty, not a commitment to obligation, not a desire to restore hope, and certainly not wisdom, but rather a childish egotism.
I’m sorry but I’ve had enough of a childishly egotistical president in the last seven years to last me a lifetime. I’d like an adult with a modicum of wisdom to be the next president, please. While Sentors Biden and Dodd both qualify as such adults too - they can’t win the nomination. She can. And, contrary to my previous opinion of her, and while it will by no means be a cakewalk, she can also win the general election.
But…and I say this to all Democrats, with the greatest respect for your individuality and your opinions, there is a time to push your pet candidate or issue/single issue/”my” issue importance - it’s when you have a veto-proof majority in both houses. When you don’t have that majority, then it’s time to suck it up, look at the big picture and pull together. If your party cannot do that, especially when it matters most to the survival of what we want to believe we are as a people and as a country, then you doom us all to wondering what could have been…again.
