Letters to the Editor
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Republicans for Hillary
As a person living in the New York Metropolitan Area I hated Hillary when she first arrived on our golden shores.
In her time as Senator however I have come to respect and even admire her work for her constituents.
Do I still think she's an attention grabbing politicker who is happy to spin and twist any situation to her own advantage? Of course, but what politician isn't this?
As a moderate, perhaps even a right wing, Democrat, she has the respectability and real world awareness necessary to get the fiscally conservative socially moderate to libertarian republican to vote for her.
Remember the Clinton republicans that helped sweep her husband into office? Well we're still here and desperately looking for someone to vote for. The anti war democrats are either so wishy washy, or so impractical as to make them unviable. Clinton however has had a strong stance on the war which we can agree with. Because of the intelligence we received we supported the war, based on what we see now, we would like to have a time machine to prevent it, but baring that we need to fix the problems we caused.
What ever Democrat runs has to pull from folks like me, folks that are proud red staters (though I currently live in a blue state, my red state roots are what guide me and many others) who are upset at the way many in the republican party have deserted the values of conservatism, and are looking for someone who can bridge the gap back to sanity from the polar political world we now inhabit.
Although eight years ago I might have laughed had you told me this; Hillary Clinton may well be that person!
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I've always liked Hillary
and thought she was undoubtedly more conservative than Bill is - and he's a little conservative for most progressives! I don't see appeasement, a "desperate need to be liked" or any of that other stuff - I see an intelligent, thoughtful, principled senator who makes decisions I don't always agree with.
And the Patriot Act? HELLO? She's the senator from New York, for heaven's sake! Do you honestly think she'd vote against it? And why, with all of this venom, does no one ever mention that Senator John Edwards help WRITE it? How come he gets a pass and she doesn't?
Still, I hope she doesn't run. For one thing, I don't approve of dynastic politics. If she runs and wins, we'll have had presidents named Bush or Clinton for over twenty years! This current state is bad enough. Also, frankly, I see her as incredibly polarizing and the country just doesn't need MORE venom between "red and blue" states. I'd much rather see her have a long and respected career in the Senate.
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The war is a bigger issue than gender for me
This country can't afford to make another mistake like Iraq. I would have a hard time voting for anyone who did not carry that particular warning as a part of her or his campaign platform.
But the platform is forged at the convention, not before. So we'll see what she comes up with by then.
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I don't care if the next president has an innie or an outie!
I am so tired, repelled, and frankly terrified of what the current administration has wrought that the only thing I want in the next administration is that they are the best people for the job.
There are such extraordinary dangers in having the wrong people in the job, that suddenly I care very, very much about trying to get the best people possible.
I was a big fan of Hillary Clinton when she first came into view on the national scene during the presidential campaign of 1992, and I strongly supported her efforts to improve our healthcare system.
But she has been so quiet since becoming a senator that I no longer feel I know what she stands for in terms of what's good for the country. I acknowledge that she has probably been a good senator for New York State.
My biggest qualm is that she has said virtually nothing about the war in Iraq and the qualifications of the current administration. Whatever she did say, it wasn't loud enough to get significant national press.
I am tempted to suspect she is very much an opportunist. Part of this comes from knowing that she was president of the campus Republican club when she was an undergraduate at Wellesley. I really don't know where her heart lies, and she doesn't give my clue herself -- except to avoid saying anything that might possibly be controversial.
At this point the U.S. needs the very best president money can buy. We need a statesman, or if you prefer, a stateshuman -- not very commonly found in U.S. politics. But that's what we need, very badly, to begin to help us recover from the great damage we have sustained from the current administration.
We need someone who is extremely smart, wise, diplomatic, and who cares about the most important things like attaining and maintaining world peace, keeping strong alliances with other countries, fostering education, healthcare, justice, and equality, not to mention helping to continue to reduce crime and address the evils of poverty.
If you know of such a person, please sugggest them to party leaders ASAP.
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"pandering to the center"
Okay, respectfully, my fellow citizens, we are in a pickle.
The pickle is that we are so hung up on our internecine ideological battles that we are happy to cut off our noses to spite our faces.
So HRC compromises on a means-nothing issue like flag-burning? So she makes token statements about respeecting people who are anti-abortion. So she cut her hair? Does any of that matter? I'm a long time liberal Democrat feminist and I don't care.
What matters is that we the people of the U-nited States of America care more about appearances than about real leadership. And I'm sorry, but leadership is not about simply playing to the stands. It is about trying to work within the system and get things done. And if that involves some symbolic genuflections to the center, so be it.
(Yes, I know, the war is not symbolic or trivial. I don't like Hillary's stance on the war, but it is the same as Kerry's and the same as many of her would-be Democratic opponants. Ask yourself if you would hold your nose and vote for Kerry, but hold Hillary to a higher standard. And then ask yourself why.)
Hillary is able to function at all when the Republicans hold two houses, the presidency and the judiciary. That alone makes her qualified to run for president.
And why shouldn't she move to the center. She doesn't intend to only lead half the country. And, by the way, we as a nation can't go on if the next president tries to lead half the country.
That is what particularly I despise Bush and Co for, only leading the half the country (1/4th now? 1/10?) who agree with them. We have huge challenges that include but are not limited to Iraq. If we go on the way we are, we're sunk.