Some people think that voting for
Hillary at this stage means that we will be giving her a complete pass on the email
scandal and questions related to funding received by the Clinton Foundation. This
is not the case. We clearly have issues here that need to be dealt with: certain
laws and regulations governing the behavior of our public officials need to be
tightened, and this can and should happen under a Clinton administration. Bernie
Sanders and the progressives can draft and push the necessary bills through
Congress.
Had conditions been different,
the email scandal would have been enough to encourage me to look for a
different candidate, the question of the glass-ceiling and history-making
notwithstanding, and despite my deep appreciation of Hillary’s proven leadership
credentials. But when the alternatives are Bernie Sanders on the one side and
Donald Trump on the other, I don’t believe we have the luxury to single-mindedly
focus on these issues to the exclusion of the larger questions and challenges
with which we are confronted today, both on the domestic and the international
scene.
At this moment in our history, we
need a leader in the White House, not an entertainer- not to mention charlatan-in-chief,
nor a dreamer-in-chief. Hillary Clinton is that leader.
I don’t expect her to work
miracles, even as we desperately need them, and I won’t judge her solely on the
basis of her decisions on Syria, no matter how deeply I care about this particular
issue, but I do expect her to continue the work to improve the economy and the standards
of living for all Americans, and to make the world safer again by reversing
some of the gains made by the forces of illiberalism, autocracy and anarchy
over the last eight years.
