Hillary

I have not been a fan of Hillary Clinton for some time. I adored her when she stumped for Bill in 1991. I was very impressed with her during the first term. Her book “It Takes a Village” was brilliant. I applauded her efforts for universal healthcare. I felt she was continually trying to keep Bill from being a Republican.

Then she was elected to the US Senate from New York. She voted for the Patriot Act. She supported Bush’s Iraq war. She supported Bush’s Afghanistan war. She lost my support and my admiration.

I worked for Dennis Kucinich in 2004 and 2008. In my humble opinion, Kucinich was the most ethical person to ever seek the presidency. Of course, he hadn’t a prayer of winning. But his candidacy moved the party to the Left, and made liberals of many who were not.

Hillary Clinton is pragmatic if she is anything. She has publicly regretted her positions on the Patriot Act and Bush’s wars. She took up the cause of gay rights. Perhaps she now feels unshackled from Bill’s latent conservatism. I take her at her word.

I was particularly impressed when she announced that she was taking on the poaching of elephants as a personal project. And then she actually followed through. She announced an $80 million dollar program to fight poaching and the ivory trade!

She has made climate change a central part of her political agenda. That alone makes her superior to any Republican and requires her to break ranks with conservative Democrats.

Hillary Clinton may not be the best person to become president but right now she is head and shoulders above the crowd.

I’d rather see Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Robert Reich, or Alan Grayson (the kick-ass Congressman from Orlando, FL) in the White House. Or Dennis Kucinich, of course.

The Clintons have major ties to Wall Street and the banking industry, the greatest manipulators of our government.

I supppose it is possible that Elizabeh Warren could be encouraged to run. If she did, she would be my candidate.

But, unless someone runs substantially to Hillary’s left, I’m onboard!

Hillary’s campaign launch astounded many pundits, myself included.

She came out swinging a progressive club, going so far as to call for a constitutional amendment to end “unaccountable” money in politics. Even if disingenuous, she will have to run on the proposal.

My preference would have been for her to call for an end to all private money in politics, and for public financing of campaigns. But then, I am a revolutionary socialist and not a major demographic.

That she is positioning herself as closer to Elizabeth Warren than to her husband is as significant as it is surprising. With no serious challengers on the horizon for the Democratic nomination, she could have easily staked out the political center. That she did not gives considerable hope to the Warren wing of the party.

It may even signal her willingness to place a bona fide liberal on the ticket with her.

Given the current political landscape, a very liberal running mate may be all we can get.

Right now, it’s an idea I can see embracing.

My analysis of an uncontested HRC nomination was that it would drive the party to the center, effectively shutting out the liberal wing of the party. I figured such a scenario might give rise to a leftist third party in 2020, cobbled together from the Greens, Reform, Peace and Freedom, Socialists, etc. That will be extremely unlikely if Hillary loses, or if she runs as a left of center Democrat.

Right now it looks like Hillary is in competent political hands. I would be counseling her to do the very same things.