Hillary’s Quest

Hillary Clinton is expected to announce her candidacy on Sunday, to the surprise of no one. She could really set the world on its ear by announcing that she’s NOT going to run. That would open the race wide up and make for a seriously interesting political season, but the chances of her doing that are somewhat less than a major asteroid striking the Earth between now and then.
I’ve got mixed feelings, of course. (Does that even need to be said? Don’t all of us have somewhat mixed feelings about almost everything? It is the nature of the mix, what ratios of which contents, that is interesting.)
I have made it clear on this blog many times, I believe, that I don’t want Hillary to get the nomination. On the other hand, I want to keep the debate civil, because there’s a real possibility we’ll be stuck with her and I’d hate to damage her chances in the general election where she will, no doubt about it, be running against someone who is a truly dangerous sociopath.
So, here are some good things about Hillary: She’s smart. She’s crazy smart. Everybody who’s worked with her, or against her, agrees on that. It’s a plus. I’d rather have a smart president than a Cruz, Paul, Santorum or Huckabee any day of the week.
She’s a woman. That is a plus. It would be good to have a female president. It would set a precedent, it would break a barrier. I don’t think she’s the best woman for the job, but Liz Warren is not running. She’s said it enough times that we just have to accept it.
She is a Democrat, at least nominally. Even though she voted for the Iraq War and supports fracking, she is not likely to appoint any neo-fascists to the Supreme Court, which any Republican candidate would.
So, it’s game on. I think there are at least a half dozen good Democratic candidates who could steal the nomination from her, and I hope one of them does, but the main thing is to keep the debate civil and intelligent.
The Republicans are the party of stupid. Let’s keep that distinction clear.