My Hillary Problem

I would prefer to keep my ultimate political leanings up to the guesswork of my readers, but I find I must come clean about certain of my feelings for Hillary Clinton, Presidential Candidate. I have been very impressed with Senator Clinton of New York. She has done great things for her constituents and by and large made the right calls on her votes, including the tough call on the Iraq authorization for which she is unfairly taking a lot of heat (it was the right vote at the time and one must go back to a 2002 mindframe to see that -- but that is a can of worms for another post). And Bill was nowhere in sight in the Senate -- this really was her own "thing" and she did it quite well. Her Senate career has been admirable up to her "suspension of belief" grilling of General Petreaus, which was, after all, really part of her Presidential campaign.

The Hillary running for President is a throwback to the first Clinton administration with the hostility to the press, paranoia and efforts to dominate the national dialogue with talking points (e.g., speeches vs. solutions). My problem is that when we are dealing with the Clintons as a package deal, I find I cannot take anything they say or do at face value and I am often surprised at how often even critical members of the media swallow hook, line and sinker, things that I think are calculated to create a particular message or buzz. Some did catch on to the purpose of the periodic crying. A better example is how Hillary and her campaign are allegedly upset with Bill for his behavior in South Carolina. IMHO, everything Bill said and did in SC was calculated by the campaign -- if the campaign is upset, it is only because the tactic didn't work. If she had won SC or done better on Super Tuesday, we would be hearing about what a great strategic move it was to unleash the former President. This is a throwback to the Monica scandal when the press, with one wet eye and one dry eye, reported that on a particular day, the President undertook the difficult task of telling his wife that the allegations were true -- as though she hadn't known for months already. The press will always fall for drama and a good yarn.

My other problem is the inevitability thing -- with all the talented women in politics, law, government service and American business, why is Hillary considered to be not only the best qualified but also seemingly the only qualified female presidential prospect? Because she says so? It goes along with the old meme about Bill being one of the most brilliant men alive because he could multi-task (talk policy on the phone and do a crossword puzzle at the same time, and as we found out, who knows what else). Hyperbole does not serve Hillary well. She is extremely intelligent, has spent a lifetime in the public eye and has a mostly exemplary Senate record. She is an excellent candidate. Let the facts speak for themselves rather than trying to convince us, by tiresome rote repetition, that she is Wonder Woman.