In this post, I would like to talk about Hillary. Here are some thoughts.
- I was leaning towards voting for Bernie Sanders, and that may be what I end up doing. I do think it’s cool that he’s drawing huge crowds and, at the moment at least, is posing a significant challenge to Hillary. That makes the election interesting. But, one night, I was flipping through channels. I came to C-Span, and it was showing a town hall meeting in which Hillary was answering questions from the audience. Hillary really impressed me. Someone asked her about Medicare and what its policy should be towards people who take care of their elderly parents at home, and Hillary addressed that question intelligently, with bullet points, showing that she had thought about the issue. A couple of leftist young people were trying to disrupt the town hall because they thought that Hillary did not go far enough on climate change, and Hillary took control of the meeting, expressed understanding towards their position, and said, logically, that we cannot simply stop using carbon-based fuels cold turkey, for so much of the economy depends on them. She is still for addressing the problem of climate change, however.
- Contrast how Hillary handled that Townhall with how Bernie Sanders handled the disruption at his event. Bernie just let those Black Lives Matters activists take over his rally! He just stood there! At least that’s my understanding of what happened. Sure, he should have let them have their say, but he also should have been present, somehow. He should have gone to the microphone and said something, either responding to what they said, or entering into a dialogue with them, or expressing sympathy for their concerns. Hillary, on the other hand, had a dialogue with Black Lives Matters activists.
- In recent polls, Hillary does not get high marks for trustworthiness. Do I trust Hillary? Well, it depends on what I’m trusting her for. Do I see her as thoroughly honest, ethical, transparent, and lovable? No. She is shady. She stretches the truth. I have heard that she can be mean. I have called her “Darth Hillary.” And, while she is an intelligent, sophisticated woman, that time when she left the White House with White House silverware seemed a bit white-trashy to me. But I also believe that she has a social conscience and has manifested that during her years as a lawyer, as First Lady, and in public service. I think that there is a part of her that cares for the vulnerable. Some of that may be for show, but some of it, I suspect, is real.
- One concern that I have about her being President is that her Administration will probably have scandals, and that will distract her and the government from the business of governing, unless she can find some way to surmount them. She has a scandal right now. What makes us think that she won’t as President?
- What I like about primaries is that they give me an opportunity to vote for whom I want—-for the candidate who best represents my beliefs, or whom I like the most—-whether that person has a shot in hell or not. I voted for Ron Paul in the 2008 and 2012 Republican primaries, mainly because I liked how he stood up to Rudy Giuliani and did not back down when Giuliani was getting on his sanctimonious 9/11 high horse. That said, I am hesitant to vote for Hillary in the primary because I suspect that she will be the Democratic candidate in the general election, and I will probably vote for her then. (I do not know what role Biden will play in this election.) Part of me wants to do something different in the primaries. So I am wondering if I should vote for Bernie Sanders, or one of the Republicans I like, such as John Kasich. Or maybe I can continue my Paulite tradition and vote for Rand—-I like some of what he says, and some of what he says I find offensive. The thing is, right now at least, Hillary is the candidate I like the most.