The more I read or listen to what Hillary Rodham Clinton says, the more queasy I feel about HRC as a possible US President. If I do not vote for Hillary in the General Election, it will not be because of Republican attack ads. It will be because I believe what Hillary says she stands for and how she thinks she will accomplish her agenda.
For some of us Bernie supporters, it has never been Bernie or Bust — there is a potentially viable third person in the Democratic primaries that I would be glad to vote for in the general if he is nominated. I would even work on his campaign in the general if he is the Democratic nominee. I started out thinking that of course I would vote for HRC in the general if by some quirk of fate she defeated two people that I think are much superior candidates, because the Republican choices are so awful this year and the Republican party has become so destructive. But the more I listen to HRC campaigning, the gladder I become that I worked to help elect BHO in 2008, and the more I wonder if HRC would not be worse than some of the Republicans. Listen carefully to Hillary some time, and see if her pandering doesn’t turn your stomache. I want to see a woman President, but not a scoundrel like Hillary. I could vote for her for Senator if I lived in a state that she ran in. The country can survive a few corrupt Senators, it always has had a few corrupt Senators. A corrupt President is a much bigger problem. I can hate HRC because she deserves to be despised for being an evil human being. HRC also has a few redeeming qualities, but they do not outweigh in my mind even one tenth of her faults as a human being.
Although for me the last straw was the ad she ran in Hispanic newspapers insulting mi abuelas (my grandmothers) by claiming to be like them. A lot of people in the Hispanic community agree with me that Hillary was insulting a lot of our grandmothers. With luck, that will cost HRC the nomination, and either of the other two Democratic candidates will become our next President. Either of Hillary’s opponents in the primary would be a good President. Hillary would be a disgracefully bad President, and I cannot imagine voting for her for that reason, even if she runs against someone slightly worse.
I will vote in the general election, but if it is Hillary against one of the better Republicans, I will only vote for the down ticket candidates or I will vote third party. If it is Hillary against one of the worst of the Republican candidatees, I might vote for her in the general if it is likely to be a very close race - maybe - but probably not, because if Hillary wins, the party insiders will think that they can orchestrate the primary process so that we have to vote in the general election for the puppet of special interest groups. If Hillary wins the Presidency, the middle class has already been turned permanently into the lower class and there is no hope and there will be no change. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid worked against Obama for his whole first term, and Obama still managed to get some good things done, because History will show that Obama was one of the greatest Presidents that the country has ever had. Bernie Sanders will be an even better President if Bernie is elected. If Bernie is elected, maybe the Democratic party leaders will finally get the message that the party faithful who are not the party machine are demanding a different sort of candidate, and maybe we will be able to elect a House and a Senate that will actually work with a wildly popular progressive President. If we do not get the message to the Democratic party leaders that the party faithful Democrats are not as suicidal as the Tea Party faithful, then all that the two party system allows us to choose is how quickly this viable but imperfect economy, this viable but imperfect system of human rights, and this democratic republican system of government can be destroyed.
Martin O’Malley is a long shot, and Martin O’Malley is low on experience, but at least his election to the Presidency would send a message to the party leaders that they do not get to declare their candidate the inevitable one before the first vote is cast in the primary and before the first caucus meets, and especially not a candidate who is bought and paid for by special interests. The real reason Hillary Clinton is not interested in being Vice President is because if she did anything at home, the electorate would see how much she is a puppet of special interests like Walmart and the too big to fail banks, and would never elect her President, not because she thinks that the Secretary of State is a more powerful position. The Secretary of State is far more of a puppet of the President than the Vice President, because the President can fire the Secretary of State, and the President cannot fire the Vice President during her term of office. Hillary wanted to claim to have great international experience during this election cycle, based on being Secretaty of State, when the State Department is mainly kept going by the career professionals in the department, just like all the other departments in the executive branch, and the Secretaries merely act as the President’s mouthpiece to those career professionals and are part of the dog and pony show on ceremonial events. Get real. Hillary the progressive is (as they say in cattle country) all hat and no horse. In other words, as a progressive, Hillary is all show and no substance, which is why the role of Secretary of State was perfect for her.
The Presidency, on the other hand, is 98% substance and 2% show. Hillary is almost as unqualified to be President as I am, and maybe even more unqualified. Hillary would not even be a good governor of a state, and might not even be a good mayor. Senator, one out of 100, Hillary can handle with a good staff. Secretary of State or Vice President, maybe. President, not until Hell freezes over.