Full disclosure: I am a Bernie Sanders supporter, volunteer and donor
I was a Barack Obama supporter, volunteer and donor
There are many reasons I feel both of these candidates are comparatively better than their opponent Hillary Clinton, and reasons why they are objectively preferable.
Last year I felt that Hillary Clinton was going to be the nominee. I still feel that way today. This does not diminish my support for Bernie Sanders nor diminish my enthusiasm for his candidacy.
Taking the above into account, there is substantive case to be made against the nomination of Hillary Clinton and an equally substantive case for her general election candidacy.
The Case Against
Lets clear the dead wood out of the way. Here are things I do not care (much) about:
1) Her husband’s policies
2) Her emails
3) Her past as a Goldwater Girl
4) Vince Foster
5) Whitewater
6) Benghazi
7) Her Iraq vote
8) Her excellence as a politician
1 thing (amongst others) I do care about:
Libya – Hillary has been forthright about her mistake is voting for the Iraq authorization. I forgive her for that. Considering that many were misled by the duplicitous Bush administration, that vote is at least understandable.
What is not forgiveable is then turning around and leading the charge for the toppling of another strongman using flimsy evidence/rational, creating a power vacuum that has bred civil war, the rise of terror organizations and a failed state.
Just because we didn’t put “boots on the ground” doesn’t mean it was successful.
Just because we didn’t spend $T to depose Qaddafi doesn’t mean it was worth it.
Hillary Clinton led the national and international diplomatic charge and made and prosecuted the case against Qaddafi and why he must go and go immediately.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/us/politics/hill…
http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21638122-ano…
https://www.foia.state.gov/Search/Results.aspx?col…
Arguably you could make the case that this shows a hawkish predaliction for regime change as a default foreign policy.
What does voting for one total disaster and then turning around and creating another disaster mean? It means you may not have the judgement to run the nation’s foreign policy and military. Technocratic expertise (and no one holds a candle to Hillary) does not mean you should be in charge of the nation’s foreign policy and military.
Here’s why this is important:
If the GOP continues to hold the House (I think they will) and a filibuster proof minority in the Senate (I think they will) then we’re looking at another 4 years of strategic and utter gridlock from the GOP on domestic issues. Any Congressional action on any domestic issue other than basic “keep the lights on” functions of government will not occur.
The entire Presidential election essentially boils down to who the electorate wants to fill Supreme Court seats and run our foreign policy. This is why Hillary’s record hurts her.
The Case For
If Hillary Clinton wins the nomination I will support, volunteer for her campaign. Why? Because once the primary is over, the election ceases to be an objective election where purity and platform are the goals, and becomes a comparative election between the two parties and their platforms.
No longer is it about whether Hillary is “liberal” enough
No longer is it about whether Hillary is too beholden to Wall Street
No longer is it about whether Hillary is too hawkish for your tastes
No longer is it about whether Hillary is too much of an incrementalist
It becomes ALL about whether you want Hillary or Donald Trump at the the wheel of state.
It is about keeping a right-wing reactionary nationalist from nominating a Supreme Court justice to a lifetime appointment
It is about keeping Trump’s orange fingers or Cruz’s dominionist hands off the nuclear launch codes
It is about the GOP potentially controlling all three branches of government
It is about protecting our nation against the predation of a party who’s sole purpose for existence is to funnel wealth and power into fewer and fewer hands.
That makes Hillary the obvious choice for President of the United States.
She shares Bernie’s views on 90% of the issues. She has liberal views on some issues, moderate and conservative on others. This is reflection of the Democratic Party’s composition!
And for those Bernie supporters that tell me that they’ll vote 3rd party or not vote at all if Hillary wins the nomination? Leave me out of your political purity cult. You just don’t get it.
If liberal, lefties and “progressives” (whatever that is) want candidates that pass their purity test, then I suggest you run for every single local, municipal and state office you can, and then “trickle-up” into federal offices. It’s how the far right has slowly taken over a majority in nearly every elected office in the US other than President!
Until then, if I must…I will vote for the candidate running on manning the walls against the Huns for another 4 years. It’s the only option I suspect I’ll be left with.
Excellent article Funk. Thank you.
I’m not thrilled with Hillary but she is the best of the lot to beat whichever nutjob is the GOPs nominee. I really like Bernie and he has done a great job all round. I wish the country was ready for him. But I’m concerned about the voter turnout in the GE and that goes for Hillary as well. She is so disliked, sometimes for good cause and sometimes just because she is Hillary Clinton. I’m not convinced that the millennials and “progressives” will have the good sense to stop the GOP no matter who is the Dem nominee. I have a feeling that if Bernie doesn’t win, they will take their bat and ball and stay at home! So many posters saying that they will not vote for Hillary which is pathetic and ignorant IMHO! To all those who will stay at home, vote for a third party or those that say they will vote for Trump if HRC is the nominee, they in fact have no moral compass, just a self indulgent adherence without thought for the enormous consequences.
My hope is that whoever is the nominee will put this out in words that everyone understands and that they have no time nor respect for those who do not use their brains. This is not a time to be self righteous about principles. Your vote is for the country not just you as an individual with one issue. What do you what the Supreme Court to be made up of for the foreseeable future!
As you said in your article Funk : “You just don’t get it.”
I am hoping for a Trump nomination, simply because he may be the easiest to defeat. I want the GOP tied to the monster it created.
The GOP is embarrassed — not by Trumps views, but by his brashness in “wearing his sheet” in such a public way. By comparison, Crubio will look “reasonable” and thus electable. Make no mistake: they are the same.
To me, Clinton is LBJ to Obama’s JFK. Clinton, like Johnson, is not nice, knows where bodies are buried, and likely put a few there. She is a bulldog, who knows the game. She, in my opinion, has a good chance of solidifying the Obama legacy.
If Senders wins the nomination, I am all in with him, though I would love to see him in the Senate, where he and Warren can move some serious issues.
I agree that Trump is a little too crude for the gentlemen in the GOP. Thus, an embarrassment. I expect that Trump will be nominated.
Clinton is a bulldog and not nice.
It will be a real fight; but, Clinton looks like the nominee to me. I will vote for either Clinton or Sanders.
Hey Jim. I think that’s a pretty good summation. I agree. It makes me somewhat proud to know that we have the only two mature adults in this whole race.
I expect that this cycle will be the most divisive and rancorous since 1968.
You need to be prepared for that.
Here, in TX, the people vote GOP and will vote whoever is nominated by the GOP. I doubt that very many GOP voters anywhere in the USA will refuse to vote Trump. Party loyalty will demand it.
If a Democratic nominee is elected, there may be a Democratic majority in the Senate. The odds of a Democratic majority in the HoR is very low.
I think that a GOP majority in both Houses is likely.
If Hillary or Sanders is President, divided government is likely. Thus, we will have gridlock.
I expect Trump to be nominated by the GOP.
I expect that a great majority of GOP voters will vote for him.
If he is elected, he will have a GOP majority in both Houses.
Trump is not a Republican, he is a Trumpist.
At worst, we will have a man on horseback who will save the country.
At best, an unknown quantity.
In Jan 2017, we will have a President who is hated by half the country.
Agrippa, with an Obama in the White House and a Clinton running and a Drumpf running, it will be a show indeed.
I have much more confidence about the Senate. I anticipate a very slim majority for the Dems, but that functionally won’t matter unless you have 60. We’ve seen that movie before.
The Democrats cannot afford to self destruct like the GOP is doing.
You forgot her theft when she and Bill were leaving the White House. She and Bill actually stole up to and including silverware claiming it was gifts. Right before here run for the Senate she returned the items, you know to keep down suspicion. LOL!
“Instead of waiting for the issue to be resolved, the Clintons returned the items.
The gifts in question were: A kitchen table and four chairs valued at $3,650 from Lee Ficks of Cincinnati, Ohio; a $1,000 needlepoint rug from David Martinous of Little Rock, Ark.; two sofas, an easy chair and an ottoman worth $19,900 from Steve Mittman of New York; lamps valued at $1,170 from Stuart Shiller of Hialeah, Fla.; and a $2,843 sofa from Brad Noe, a businessman from California.
The gifts were just one of several flaps that followed the Clintons out of the White House:
Lawmakers are questioning Clinton’s desire to rent expensive office space in New York City at government expense. Because of the contention, the former president’s foundation has offered to pay at least $300,000 of an estimated $790,000 annual rent for the office Clinton favors.
Mrs. Clinton, the new senator from New York, has faced questions about the propriety of accepting the gifts in the period between her election and her swearing-in. Senate rules would have limited what she could accept had she been a senator.
Members of both parties also have criticized Clinton for granting scores of eleventh-hour clemency requests, including the pardon of Marc Rich, a fugitive in Switzerland from 51 counts in the United States of tax evasion and fraud.”
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=121856&page=1
Monica, I didn’t even consider the looting angle! I may have to re-think my theory!
Funk, at this point I am and have voted for Bernie. I don’t even want to think about him losing. Right now I am supporting the BEST candidate that I remember, President Obama may have been the best before Bernie.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard resigned from the DNC to support Bernie. She said that as a vet of two tours in Iraq she thinks Bernie is a better choice to be Commander in Chief. I agree!
Income inequality is just out of control! The billionaire class and their corporations have kept Bernie out of the “news”. In fact Trump is on the “news” constantly and says nothing of substance! 1%ers fear Bernie because he wants them to pay their fair share of taxes. I do too!
Our infrastructure is falling apart and rebuilding it will create 13 million jjobs, good paying jobs! Creating taxpayers! Increasing the tax base and lessening the burden on the rest of us.
Educating people for 16 years will make America smarter! We pay for that with a tax on the Wall Street traders who have had a free ride for so long!
I could go on but I feel that I’m preaching to the choir. Just know that there are still 35 more states to vote!
Nirek, me too! My enthusiasm for Bernie hasn’t diminished at all.
HOWEVER. At some point the general election will come. If Hillary is the nominee, everyone needs to get on board.
Amen brother! Hillary certainly has her warts, but if she gets the nomination, she’ll be the only one who can stop the GOP from undoing everything good Obama has accomplished in the last eight years.
We also really need to grab as many seats in Congress, as we possibly can.
As a member of the choir I say preach brother Nirek, preach!!!
Thank you Monica!
Bernie’s plan to rebuild the infrastructure will help 100% of Americans. That includes corporations like Cat, John Deere, Walmart and all the others that use roads, rails and the rest of the infrastructure. So they should get on board. President Obama tried to do it too. But we all know that the color of his skin was why the republicans obstructed all efforts by PBO.
So, my point is that all the items on Bernie’s agenda are excellent!
I’m in agreement 100$ Nirek. Bernie Sanders is the only candidate with an agenda for the people of this nation. All of the people of the nation, not just the wealthy who have virtually wreaked havoc upon this nation with their thievery.
Bernie is great, his positions for the American People are great, if and it is a big if, his ideas could ever be brought to fruition it would help propel America way out front in the 21st century. BUT, and this also is a big one, propaganda and ignorance I believe will not allow him to get the nomination, let alone win the general. And the alternatives from the ‘right’ are to scary to even contemplate, Hillary will do fine, she has the requisite knowledge and ability to take us forward.
I agree with this article.
Today, I voted for Sanders ( heart) out of idealism.
But, I support Clinton ( head).
I think that Libya was a big mistake, for reasons of state ( Raison d’etat). In foreign policy, reasons of state – head headed ( and hard hearted) realism – are very important. Realism indicated that Gaddafi stay in power. Ignore reality at your peril.
She needs to learn that lesson. I presume that she has.
She will be far more practical than anyone from the GOP.
I agree that we will continue to have a GOP Congress. A Democratic president is a necessary counterweight. Gridlock is ugly; but, it is continuing reality. So, Domestic Reform is not very likely.
“Lefties” and “Progressives” do need to get elected at the local and state level and climb the ladder. The GOP basically runs state and local government.
Man, you couldn’t have said it any better. Nice.
You are welcome.
It is very important that “lefties” and “progressives” to get organized and get elected to office at the lower levels – local and state. Then, building a base, climb the ladder to Washington.
People like Sanders have good ideas; if these ideas are to gain support it will take people organizing and getting elected. It is a long road.
I must confess Libya and the factors involved kinda slipped below my radar as far as Hillary’s part in it. Could it have been handled better, probably, realize here I am not referring to Benghazi, but to the in initial overthrow.
As far as local elections, you are right on, it is our fault, democrats that is, so many states have radical right wing, anti women administrations, we can only change this by voting in all local and state elections and we failed big time in ’10 and ’14. But this year I really think we will take back the Senate and keep the White House, not enough but it is a start.
Gyp, I think you drew what I was hoping you would draw from the article. Thanks for the reply.
This AM, Wed the 2nd, Cspan had a full show with open phones, topic of course was super Tues. What I heard from some Bernie supporters blew my mind. Now, understanding that anyone can and do mislabel themselves, these voters declared that if Hillary gets the nomination they would switch to Trump, these were usually younger callers it seemed. Now that does frighten me for the future of America. Even thinking of the possibility that the American electorate could be so filled with latent hate for others that they could place this megalomaniac in charge of the nuclear button and the supreme court should frighten us all.