I confess, I am voting for Hillary, proudly. I think her basic values are consistent with mine and the Bill of Rights. She may be the most prepared candidate ever. The GOP has been after Hillary for as long as
I confess, I am voting for Hillary, proudly. I think her basic values are consistent with mine and the Bill of Rights. She may be the most prepared candidate ever. The GOP has been after Hillary for as long as I can remember, yet every “scandal” fails. Calling someone a cheat or liar does not make it so, no matter how often or loudly. If there was substance you would think there would be at least an indictment, nope, not one. A grand jury could indict a Spam sandwich. Not one allegation I can find has made it to formal charges. The notorious Ken Starr could not make a case against her. Some things she has said are not totally accurate, but who’s that perfect, Mr. Spock?
She has bent a few rules, who hasn’t? Being able to bend a few rules and not crash is proof of ability to manipulate politics, as our most effective presidents have. There’s an old joke. Clintons go back to Illinois for her high school reunion. They pass a man digging a ditch. Hillary comments that in high school she dated him. Bill opines, “If you married him you would be married to a ditch digger.”
“No! If I married him, he’d be president.” Everyone I have told that story agreed she could.
When I look back at the presidents I have known, from Eisenhower, I wonder which one Hillary could be most like. She won’t be too close mainly because the world has changed. In her case, I don’t think gender is going to remain an issue. She was scandalized for wearing an expensive jacket.
Eisenhower: best known for playing golf and the Interstate Highway System. He added “and Defense” to the title to get it passed. Conservative Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock to integrate the high school and finished with a budget surplus; got us out of Korea, but into Vietnam. In the light of history, he looks better now. I can’t see HRC playing golf while there are conservatives to convert.
Kennedy: charismatic war hero but ineffectual against a hostile Congress. HRC not charismatic, instead she gets things done often letting others take the credit. The list is way too long for this space, Google it.
LBJ: aka Johnson, D for charisma, but A+ for getting things done that Kennedy hoped for but couldn’t get through Congress: Civil Right Act, Voting Rights Act. If he had gone the other way on Vietnam, he would be a considered a great president.
Nixon: no one is as secretive, underhanded and hard to analyze as Tricky Dick. No.
Gerry Ford: nice guy in the White House. No major goof ups (pardoned Nixon). No leadership, but stood up for the Mayaguez crew.
Jimmy Carter: another nice guy. Not a bomb dropped or bullet fired in anger. His policies ended most Latin American dictatorships, but Iran errors were his undoing.
Reagan: the Patron Saint of the GOP, in spite of his sins, like Iran-Contra, and tax increases. The Teflon President managed to dodge every bullet. HRC is the Post-it candidate the GOP attaches allegations to her but none of them have any substance.
Poppy Bush: war hero, lifetime civil servant, hero of Kuwait but victim of an economic crisis the Republican economic ideology could not cope with.
Bill Clinton: his best move was marrying Hillary. On the other hand he, like Ike, finished with a budget surplus.
Bush II: blew Bill’s budget surplus, let Cheney run the country from the basement. HRC will be in the middle of everything. VP who?
Obama: cautious slow-on-the-draw deep thinker; slowly mended the economy.
HRC is informed on and has already position on most issues. I don’t always agree with her, but we’re getting closer. She, like LBJ, will browbeat anyone who gets in the way until practical policy is done deal. Some people would disagree but the world would be in good hands. Bill gets paid to speak, so? People with too much money donate to the Clinton Foundation, which then helps people who don’t have enough. The Clintons have done well by doing good. That’s why.
Ken Obenski is a forensic engineer, safety and freedom advocate who lives in South Kona and writes a monthly column for West Hawaii Today
