Hello. I haven't visited here in a while, but I wanted to stop by and share why I am supporting and campaigning for Hillary Clinton for President. In 2008 I was for Obama, and I was very skeptical of Clinton. I eventually campaigned for Obama all-out -- and against her just as hard. I was a college student, making phone calls and donating anything I could. It was a fun campaign. And it paid off in the sense that we elected the first black President - an advocate for the struggling - an advocate for LGBT - for college students - for the poor and middle class in the face of the recession - and someone who wasn't going to let another term go by without healthcare reform. I don't regret this at all. We made a lot of progress.
But I do regret not giving Clinton a closer look in 2008. My mother, who doesn't follow politics AT ALL, was exhuberant to vote for Hillary, only to be let down when she didn't get the nomination.
"She'll be in the cabinet," I said to console her. "Maybe even VP."
Fast forward so many years, and Obama seems to be having his own regrets about that race. In the latest Politico piece, he all but endorses Clinton as heir apparent to the movement he helped build.
And you know what? I'm with him again, and I'm with her, too.
I feel that Hillary is the most likely to get a Democratic agenda of any kind on the table. And her agenda is fair, wide-ranging, and good. Equal pay for women. Pre-k education. Research to cure Alzheimer's. Raising incomes and creating more properity. College affordability.
And LGBT rights. People keep posting this quote from Hillary that she believed marriage was between a man and a woman. She did. So did Obama. As did Biden. (And by the way, so did Bernie Sanders, at least for his state of Vermont.) Privately, I doubt they ever believed that. But politics is the art of the possible. And the American PEOPLE only made gay rights front and center over the past few years. It's disinengous to say she wouldn't be an LGBT advocate because of this position she once held. Because look at how far Obama has gone -- he who once said his Christian values compelled him to view marriage as a union between man and woman -- now the greatest advocate for LGBT in the White House in HISTORY!
People should realize on that issue, the entire country seemed to be against gays until the 1990s, when it began to soften a bit. I know she will be an advocate for us, because we have been an advocate for her. And we aren't going back on this issue. Only forward.
I believe electability is on her side, but also governance. She would be able to get bills passed practically.
Mr. Sanders talks a big game, but the fact is he doesn't have a single Senator's endorsement - nor, amazingly, even a single representative from the Vermont delegation. He faces an extremely uphill battle of even winning the nomination, much less the presidency. But if he did win, there would be slim chance to pass anything. I don't see him working well with the other side, as compromise for him seems to be the same kryptonite that it is with others on the right side of the spectrum.
I think the answer this year is giving Clinton another look. She would be our first female president, an advocate for women and families, for black people, gay people, the disenfranchised. She's not a single-issue politician (be it immigration from Trump, or income inequality from Sanders). This would be a clear distinction.
I really hope you don't neglect giving her a chance in the rush to the bandwagon Bernie is steering. I know I will campaign this year just as hard for her, as I want my mom to be able to finally be able to cast her vote for Hillary. And I hope you'll join her.
Thanks for reading. :)
