I have supported Hillary Clinton. Indeed, I worked on her first Senate campaign. But this weekend she made a big withdrawal from my bank of goodwill. Her rhetoric is sounding like the current dummy we have in the White House. One Bush was bad enough, two we don't need.
Over the weekend she repeated her call for a permanent US base in Iraq. That is a startlingly dumb idea. I know that she needs to take a hardline in order to avoid being called soft on defense because she is a woman and a Democrat. But, when she makes statements like that, I begin to question her judgment.
Later I heard her made an astoundingly childish statement with regard to Iran and Venezuela. In a talk on energy dependence Sen. Clinton said that "every time I turn out my light at night, I say 'take that Iran,'take that Venezuela'." This is problematic on two levels. First of all, that might be a shorthand a first grade teacher might give her students, minus the rhetoric against Iran and Venezuela. And, Sen. Clinton might do well to remember that Venezuela has given oil to poor Americans whose heating costs make it impossible for them to stay warm or make hard choices like "should I buy enough groceries or heat my home." That was an add run in her home state. Another features an old woman who demonstrated how she has to drag her bed in front of her oven to stay warm. At the end of all these ads, the people thank the People of Venezuela. It makes her look very bad that she could not procure oil for her constituents, but the person she thumbs her nose at can.
For Hillary to antagonize a country that gives free or reduced price oil to poor Americans, poor Americans in her state, is stupid and is in keeping with the current Administration's practice of diplomacy, which we all know was an unmitigated disaster.
And, since Hillary wants to pursue that crazy idea of maintaining a permanent US base in Iraq, she better get used to her neighbor Iran. Has the fact that George Bush's go it alone, insult diplomacy has transformed Iran from an isolated state within the region to a major power player whose help we will need.
If Hillary Clinton has not learned the lesson that only talking to people you like is not diplomacy, but a tea party. She will only perpetuate our isolation. As wonderful as it would be to have a woman in the Oval Office, it is not worth the price of Hillary being George Bush in a skirt. We need to disavow that policy and rebuild bridges, not to dance around in the ashes of the ones we've burned. Harboring childish resentment towards countries that could play a role in saving the environment is shameful.
I hope she gets her brain back from Karl Rove in time for her to re-establish herself as an intelligent, thoughtful candidate whose presidency would represent a full reversal of the current Administration's policies sufficient to get our country's credibility back.