I’m serious. I want you to convince me to support her.
Follow the thought process below.
I’ve have stated on DailyKos that I will not support Secretary Clinton with my time, money or vote in the primary and if she becomes the Democratic nominee I will not support her with my time or money. She will probably get my vote though. (1)
I won’t bore you with my reasons but I’ll say that 75% of my objections to her are based on what I know of her positions (or what I think I know) and 25% of my objections to her are based on my emotional response to her.
Before and after the Great DailyKos Shutdown I read and commented in a diary in support of Secretary Clinton’s announcement and a request to join the Kossacks for Hillary Clinton for President 2016.(2)
Here was my first comment in the diary:
well…Hillary has about 19 months to give me some reasons to vote for her in the election (assuming she makes it that far). As of now I won’t be voting for her so much as I’ll be voting against whatever asshole is running as a republican. This could be a problem for her if more people feel the way I do (or worse) as opposed to the way you feel. But…I’m happy if you’re happy.(3)
Most of the other comments were declarations of support or declarations of non-support and pie between the two. One thing lacking in the..let’s say debate any attempts to make a case for Secretary Clinton. In my…let’s say debate with another Kossack the idea of making a case for Hillary was met with Lol’s, invective and hostility. I wrote there and I’ll write here, “with friends like these who needs enemies?”. Is the idea of trying to change people’s minds on Secretary Clinton really that anathema to her supporters or is this just an aberrant response in the Petri dish that is DailyKos?
I’m smart enough to know that I don’t know everything. I think I’m open to facts and persuasion. So please, give me reasons to support Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Why does she want to be President?
What does she want to do as President?
What are her thoughts and positions on:
Climate change?
Iran?
The poor?
The middle-class?
The one-percent?
Social Security?
Immigration reform?
Marriage equality?
Freedom of choice?
Voting rights?
Institutional racism on a Federal and State level?
Militarization of the police aided and abetted by the Federal Government?
NSA?
Wall Street?
Supreme Court nominees?
The influence of corporate money on our political process?
Etc. Etc. Etc.
Please feel free to bring up other subjects as it relates to her Presidential goals. I ask that support your factual statements with factual links if you can. I will accept examples of her actions as a First Lady, Senator and Secretary of State to back up any suppositions that you’d like to make.
What I’m not interested in reading:
Because she can win.
Because it’s time for a woman President.
Because she’s better than the Republican nominee (whatever rough beast that will end up being).
Why are you such a misogynist?
You’re support doesn’t matter (4)
Pretend for the purposes of this diary that I’m a know-nothing voter (for those already typing variations of “who needs to pretend” ha ha ha). Please convince me to vote for her. I could use some positivity right now.
If nothing else, consider this good practice for all the door knocking, phone banking and Facebook conversations that lay ahead.
One final request to those who aren’t on the Hillary bandwagon. Sit this one out and read or ignore as you please. Asking for clarification is fine. Correcting a factual statement is fine. Other than that I would request that you give the supporters the floor.
(1) Though I must say that as a Californian I think my vote will have no effect on the race.
(2) Free plug for you miketalk. I’m trying to be nice.
(3) In the Regrets I’ve Had a Few dept. I should have just stayed out of the diary and let milktalk and others have their moment. Here I offer my apologies for being a buzzkill.
(4) I’ll give you that one (Californian remember?). But what about the undecided and underwhelmed in the key battleground states?
Update: I've been hanging out here for a little over 3 hours but laundry calls so I'll be absent for awhile.
The most favored comment seems to be this one from chicago minx.
My personal favorites are this and this and this.
I'll be back.
You have to give people hope - Harvey Milk
Update the 2nd:
I'm back. I'm heartened by some of the more substantial responses in my absence though it looks like chicago minx's initial comment is still the most favored.
To add to my favorites:
This.
and
This.