During the Iowa caucuses, I finally realized that I had already made up my mind about the Democratic nomination. I cheered the numbers for Obama showing up on the screen and cried (and felt like an idiot doing it) during his victory speech. My husband put an Obama sticker on our good car (the Prius, not on the gas guzzling minivan) and we wake each other up in the morning, interrupt each other's quiet reading time, call each other during the day with good news about the Obama campaign (new support from the Hispanic community; his terrific response to Bill Clinton's Jesse Jackson remarks). So how come I end up spending so much of my commenting time on Dkos defending Hillary Clinton?
I realized that today alone I've written 3 comments disputing people who state that Hillary supports Bush's surge in Iraq based on one reporter's claim that "she sprang to her feet" when Bush talked about it in his SOTU address.
I will admit I like Hillary. I think she would be a fine President. A competent President. A massive improvement over what we have now. But I don't think she'd inspire people. I don't think she'd draw young people into political activity. I don't think she could create enough support in the country to make real, and necessary change. And I'm not sure she would win in the general election.
But I am absolutely and adamantly opposed to baseless criticism of her, of Obama, of Edwards, and yes, even of the Republican scumballs. We have plenty of real events, activities, associations, and positions we can criticize. The minute we begin making things up or exaggerating events, our criticisms become questionable. I know this is a basic premise when someone is a witness in a trial. Get caught in one lie and everything else you say is suspect.
We should be better than that. As an Obama supporter, I want people to respect my views on why he is the better choice. Making up criticisms of other candidates hurts my credibility when I praise Obama and therefore hurts his campaign.