A while back, I said I can’t hate Trump. Still can’t.
On Hillary, I’m having a hard time getting to where Barack Obama got with Hillary back in 2008. Remember, that is when he said to her at a debate in NH … “You’re likable enough, Hillary.”
In my opinion, Obama exaggerated. But, he’s a gentleman.
Watching the second debate, I made the following notations about Hillary: Knowledgeable; Condescending; Contrived; and Smug. About Trump: Uninformed; Disorganized; Candid; and Likable. I thought Trump made a sincere apology for his creepy tape and Hillary made an insincere (she’s a Clinton) apology about her whole e-mail saga. I couldn’t help but get the feeling it took all the discipline she could muster not to blame the mess she created on Colin Powell … like she’s been doing lo these many months.
When it comes to becoming an enthusiastic Hillary backer, I feel a little bit like how Groucho Marx must have felt when he famously said, “I would never join a club that would let someone like me in it.”
It’s way too easy to join Club Clinton. All one has to do is pretend that she has a quarter of an ounce of political courage. (She showed strength by picking herself up off of the mat after Bill’s affair with Monica Lewinsky and establishing herself as a US Senator from New York. That’s ambition. Courage involves risking your career to do the right thing.)
She certainly didn’t show political courage as Secretary of State. She avoided working on the Israel Account like the plague. You can lose your career with any courageous even-handedness in that area.
Obama protected her. He was willing to put daylight between the US and the Israeli Government of Benjamin Netanyahu. Obama did all the heavy lifting. He dealt with Netanyahu himself (talk about cruel and unusual punishment) and took the heat that comes with not being in lock-step with Israel. Notwithstanding the 24/7 opposition of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, Sheldon Adelson’s money, and Netanyahu’s obnoxious meddling, Obama still carried 69% of the Jewish vote in his reelection victory in 2012. Good for him.
Meanwhile, Hillary hid out in Chappaqua, secure in the knowledge that she had offended no one important to a lucrative speaking career when she left State or financing her ultimate run for President … or, not incidentally, the Clinton Global Initiative. One can also assume that with a private e-mail server safely hidden in her Chappaqua home, she had that warm fuzzy feeling that goes with knowing that her e-mails were safe from the prying eyes of those who were capable of misunderstanding the essential goodness of all things Clinton.
The above paragraph summarizes the essence of the CLINTON concept of public service. Go ahead and comfort the afflicted a little bit, if you have to. But, for Pete’s sake, don’t afflict the comfortable. They’re our friends. We love them. They give us money. Someday, we’re going to be like them. One more stay at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and we’ll be billionaires! The BERNIE SANDERS approach is light-years from the CLINTON'S. Of course we should afflict the comfortable. Their greed is the problem. Kicking their ass is part of the solution and, by the way, who the hell would want to be a billionaire in the first place? Are you out of your freaking mind?
Before State, she sat in the Senate for eight years and did what? I don’t know either. She had one chance to show political courage: Join 22 of her Senate colleagues and vote “NO” on the Iraq War Vote. Bernie voted “NO”. He was in the House at the time. Obama was on record against the War. He did not yet have a Senate vote. To use language Trump has used to describe Mitt Romney, Hillary “choked like a dog on the Iraq War vote” and hid out with the safe and timid careerists.
That, unfortunately, is who she is.
Conclusion
I agree it’s a mess. I agree Trump is not qualified. I agree that (as between Hillary and Trump) Hillary is the safest bet to be a minimally competent and occasionally honest manager of the country’s affairs for a minimum period of time.
It’s incumbent upon the Sanders Wing of the Democratic Party to restrain the second generation neocons, who will cluster around her from opening day. Their friends in the media will hammer away at “Evil Iran”. They’re going to want to have another go … they’ll be looking for an excuse and a “flexible” President who will start a war for them.
Iraq worked so well. Iran will be crazy good.
I will post again on Wednesday, November 2, 2016 or before if the news flow dictates.
Comments are welcome at tomc[at]wednesdayswars[dot]com. Comments will be addressed in subsequent posts.