For What It's Worth: Let's pick a President

Hillary Clinton is my choice for president, but I am quick to say that any of the top three Democrats would get my vote in a general election against any of the current Republican nominees. If I were a dreamer, and why not (?), I would hope for a deadlocked Democratic convention and Al Gore gets drafted, picking Barack Obama as his running mate. But since all my dreams have already come true in this life, I doubt I’m due any more.

Why do I choose Hillary? This is not an emotional decision. I have friends who have expressed visceral beneficial feelings for Barack Obama, and while I do not share those feelings, I respect and understand them. I have a wife who becomes teary at the prospect of a woman president, and while I do not share that emotion, I respect and understand it.

My support for Hillary is very basic. I agree with her entirely on every single issue, and I think she has the nuts to get things done. Period. Additionally, I have to admit that I would get a certain joy in my heart just seeing the verbally abusive band of anti-Hillary varmints go batshit crazy during her Inaugural Address. I fantasize that they’d have to scrape Rush off the pavement after he wanders aimlessly out into traffic in a Vicoden-induced haze. I picture Tom DeLay putting down his bug sprayer just long enough to choke on his own DDT-laced vomit. I would get a half-chub watching Trent Lott’s plastic hair spontaneously combust in angst.

While Obama seems to support many of the same policies, I’m not sure he has the stones to stand toe-to-toe with the creatures of the Netherworld who currently call themselves Republicans. He’s a nice guy, and a smart guy. But he’s just doesn’t seem mean enough or paranoid enough to negotiate his way through the quagmire that he would certainly encounter. As Caroline Kennedy recently pointed out, Barack Obama does seem very much like her father… and unfortunately, we all remember the tragic end to that Camelot. I believe that Hillary knows when to duck.

The United States is at a critical juncture with stepwise disasters, like several slow motion train wrecks, occurring simultaneously on both the domestic and foreign fronts. The current administration has allowed so much to go wrong that it will take a generation of flawless governance to right the ship of state. While I usually do not go in for campaign rhetoric, I admit that I have fallen for Senator Clinton’s riff about experience.

Senator Clinton has been fighting for things like universal health care and fiscal restraint, “third way” Rubinomics, for at least the 15 years that I have been paying attention to her. The picture of her at Nixon’s impeachment trial (pictured at left) in 1974 speaks volumes of her long term wherewithal. While Edwards was chasing ambulances, she was taking these motherfuckers to task. If Hillary didn’t break under the inhumane treatment that she received in the 1990’s, then she is truly bionic. If she wants this job after all that shit, then she deserves it.

A few nuts and bolts. The universal health care plan that Senator Clinton has outlined is exactly the way it should be done. Everybody gets health care insurance, whether it is through an employer or purchased on the open market. Citizens get a choice and the government subsidizes those that cannot pay. People pay what they can, they get care, and doctors get paid. Perfect. Clinton is the only Democratic candidate who does not desire to “expand S-Chip”, she only promises to “protect S-Chip.” I know this is subtle, but there is an important distinction: S-Chip is welfare—a form of Medicaid—and middle class families who make $74,000 per year should not be eligible for welfare. Obama and Edwards are quick to pander on this issue.

I truly believe that Hillary Clinton in the White House will immediately re-establish the United States’ role as the arbiter of human rights in the world. Our allies would undoubtedly accept either Barack Obama or John Edwards as well, but Clinton would be able to quickly garner international support for such things as multinational forces for Iraq, regional summits in the Middle East, international climate treaties and guidance from friends to help us unwind the Guantanamo gulag in an orderly and legal way. The world remembers our commitment in the Balkans under Bill Clinton, and they remember the yeoman’s effort put forth working for peace in Palestine and the success of his expertise in Northern Ireland, a part of the world that is currently enjoying unprecedented economic growth largely due to that peace agreement.

We need an energy policy. We need to rebuild our infrastructure. We need to educate the next generation for a changing world. These have all been neglected for eight long years, and I think that Hillary has the proper balance of left and right cerebral function to formulate complex plans, get legislation written and supported, and begin to solve these problems. Could Obama or Edwards get these things done, too? Sure, I think they probably could, but I have more confidence that Hillary would.

I’m not sure I could physically cast a ballot for a malpractice attorney, but if John Edwards were the nominee, he would get my vote. This election is too important to allow a militarist like McCain in the White House. I’ll be honest, I understand the Constitution’s proscription against a religious test for office, but there is simply no way in hell I would acquiesce to an evangelical minister who eschews evolution and thinks Adam and Eve rode dinosaurs to have control of the most sophisticated military in the world. And guys who wear magic underwear? Likewise, I’m sorry but Romney doesn’t get my vote either. Giuliani? Heck, even the thick-skulled Republican voters have figured out what he’s all about.

Bottom line: we need a Democratic president. None of the candidates are perfect, but they never are. Frankly, I am heartened at the good choices we do have this time around, but I also realize that my judgment may be skewed; heck, even Homer Simpson would look pretty good after watching our current president stumble his way through the last 7 years.

I look forward to a change in the White House. I would be honored to vote for Senator Hillary Clinton for our next president. And I’ll be first in line for Barack Obama in 2016. Al Gore, if not our next president, would certainly look great as Secretary of State or Attorney General... and maybe President Obama can put him on the Supreme Court someday.