Opinion of Hillary Clinton

[bedstuy]

I don't understand the hate.  She's a brilliant, thoughtful, engaging person.  I can't think of someone better qualified to be President.

I guess what I don't understand is how Hillary as President would result in quantitatively inferior results to if another plausible candidate became President.  Maybe if you want radical conservative policies, sure.  But, if you're moderate to leftist, Hillary could deliver results as well as anyone could.

[bedstuy]

I'll just say this:

Hillary made the same mistake that most of America made in the aftermath of 9.11.  People had this mindset that "something has to be done!" which created this momentum towards reckless actions.  The New York Times and much of the Democratic establishment joined that rush to war.  That's not to excuse their behavior, it was wrong. 

And, it's not something that anyone needs to forgive necessarily.  I won't lecture anyone who chooses not to vote for Hillary based on the Iraq War.  I can respect the view that there's blood on her hands and we need to move on from the people who stood by and let that war happen.  I totally respect that view and I had that opinion last time around. 

Here's what cuts the other way for me.  Congress has historically deferred to the President in a time of war.  Hillary Clinton didn't decide to invade Iraq, she went along with it.  She didn't sign off on all the horrible management of the war or the incompetence of our generals.  And, in 2008, she was in a politically untenable no-win situation.   

So, the question to me is this, do we think Hillary Clinton is going to start wars that other Presidents would not?  Is she quick to use our military without diplomacy?  Basically, is she likely to repeat the mistakes of Iraq?  I don't think so.  I think she's basically the same as Obama on foreign policy, except perhaps that she has more grit and wisdom on how to handle foreign affairs.

What I ask the Clinton skeptics, is not to automatically rally to her side or put aside their qualms.  2016 ought to be a process and Hillary Clinton's responsibility is winning your vote.  If she runs a centrist campaign, devoid of heart and substance, she deserves to lose.  If she wants to run a "prevent defense" "vote for me!" campaign that doesn't speak to working on economic inequality and fighting back against Republican ideas, she won't deserve your vote. 

But, please don't be so naive that you won't listen because you want some ideologically pure, saint who has never fallen victim to the pitfalls of Washington DC.  The President can't necessarily be this representation of all that you believe in and identify with.  Their main job is running the government and moving better legislation through the Washington process.  On that score, I trust Clinton to get stuff done.  And, she's not Andrew Cuomo, she is actually a progressive on the key issues. 

So, there it is, give Clinton a chance to run her campaign and make her pitch.  Don't buy into the labels and the hype, just let the process work as an informed voter.