Comments on: A Letter to Hillary

By: KJR

KJR — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:12:15 +0000

I have gotten a lot from reading your views and agree with almost everything you say. I have had great problems with Senator Clinton from the beginning and knew that she would be the last person I would support among the Democrats. Her recent behavior has only increased my distaste.

And yet —- I am old enough to remember when many very liberal people voted for Nixon or sat out the election rather than vote for Hubert Humphrey because of our anger at Lyndon Johnson, and Humphrey’s support of him. In later elections a significant number of liberals deserted Jimmy Carter for Anderson and Al Gore for Ralph Nader — giving us Reagan and Bush. Yet whatever we were unhappy about at the time, the alternative was far worse for the country and for the causes we cared about — particularly because of the choices made for the Supreme Court by Nixon, Reagan, and Bush, which far outlast the many disasters of their presidencies. I like McCain as a person better than I like Hillary, but in terms of the Supreme Court and most other policies, I think he would be far worse for America. Having been around longer than you have, I long for the day when I could be excited about a presidential candidate in a general election. I still think the chances are very good that Senator Obama will get the nomination and that would be wonderful, a day to remember and hope for the future.

But despite all the dashed hopes and asassinations of 1968, those who voted against Humphrey, in hindsight, made a grave error for all the things we cared about. So I can’t dismiss voting for Hillary, yet, remembering how much we lost when in our anger we failed to support deeply flawed Democrats against the even worse alternative.

By: Jess

Jess — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:29:55 +0000

Thank you for writing this, and so eloquently coming to the crux of the matter at hand, for me — what do these sorts of tactics say about the kind of President Senator Clinton might be? Not one I can bring myself to vote for, and I’ve never voted Republican, either.

By: mskitty

mskitty — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:24:40 +0000

Preach it, my sister! I am struck by the parallels between the attacks of one campaign against another and the national shame of torture tactics. If one side practices torture, it means that torture will be used against them. If one side practices cruel attacks against the opponent, it means that cruel attacks will likely be used in return. The only way to end that vicious cycle is to refuse to engage in it, which for the most part Senator Obama has managed, except for some correction of misperceptions.

It also seems to me that the phrase “loyal opposition” is applicable in the Jeremiah Wright situation. We in the Free Church expect our parishioners to disagree with us on some issues; we hope that they will tell us of their disagreement and will stick around because of their loyalty to the institution. Hillary would leave her church if she disagreed with the minister. What does that say about her ability to be faithful? And how does it contrast with her faithfulness to Bill, who shamed her publicly with his behavior?

I know it galls a great many people to see a highly intelligent, charismatic, kind leader from the African American community outshine a highly intelligent, workhorse of a leader from the women’s movement. It invokes memories of the days when African American men got the vote before women, no doubt.

But we can’t afford to get hung up on this. Thanks for your remarks, Rose.