It's the year of Trump and everyone is running on blowing up the system. The Tea Party GOP has been about this for years. Bernie promises a 'revolution' that means electing him and little else.
Hillary in a sense stands out as the one candidate who has what Ezra Klein referred to as the 'audacity of pragmatism.' While she is often accused of somehow being dishonest, to run on pragmatism is actually very honest, even bold.
It is audacious to run on pragmatism. Obama governed pragmatically but he ran on aspiration. In a year of Bernie's sandcastles and Trump's drunk on the bar stool positions, Hillary is the one candidate talking about uniting us rather than dividing us into some sort of Holy War or other.
As 2008 Obama speechwriter, Jon Favreau, says-her former nemesis-in a year of Trump, her simple message of love and kindness is what the country needs. '
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/26/why-electing-hillary-in-16-is-more-important-than-electing-obama-in-08.html
Walter Shapiro picks up this same theme:
"Clinton Offers Predictability in an Erratic Political Year."
"Underlying message is 'Everything will be okay.'
"The appeal of Donald Trump's bilious attacks and drunk-on-a-bar-stool issue positions defies rational analysis. But it is also stunning to see the former first lady, senator and secretary of state on the defensive against a 74-year-old backbench socialist senator who draws thousands of Democrats to monster rallies at which he excoriates the "rigged economy" in a raspy voice."
Voters can respond to anxious times in two diametrically different ways. They can embrace the cult of the outsider personified by Trump and Sanders. Or they can opt for stability, predictability and competence in the form of Hillary Clinton.
Hillary in a sense stands out as the one candidate who has what Ezra Klein referred to as the 'audacity of pragmatism.' While she is often accused of somehow being dishonest, to run on pragmatism is actually very honest, even bold.
It is audacious to run on pragmatism. Obama governed pragmatically but he ran on aspiration. In a year of Bernie's sandcastles and Trump's drunk on the bar stool positions, Hillary is the one candidate talking about uniting us rather than dividing us into some sort of Holy War or other.
As 2008 Obama speechwriter, Jon Favreau, says-her former nemesis-in a year of Trump, her simple message of love and kindness is what the country needs. '
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/26/why-electing-hillary-in-16-is-more-important-than-electing-obama-in-08.html
Walter Shapiro picks up this same theme:
"Clinton Offers Predictability in an Erratic Political Year."
"Underlying message is 'Everything will be okay.'
"The appeal of Donald Trump's bilious attacks and drunk-on-a-bar-stool issue positions defies rational analysis. But it is also stunning to see the former first lady, senator and secretary of state on the defensive against a 74-year-old backbench socialist senator who draws thousands of Democrats to monster rallies at which he excoriates the "rigged economy" in a raspy voice."
Voters can respond to anxious times in two diametrically different ways. They can embrace the cult of the outsider personified by Trump and Sanders. Or they can opt for stability, predictability and competence in the form of Hillary Clinton.
- See more at: http://www.rollcall.com/news/opinion/clinton-offers-predictability-erratic-political-year#sthash.Np2Evq8F.dpuf
In a sense this is only fitting as she aspires to be the first female POTUS in our history. Women have so often been mediators, bringing conflicts to resolution among warring family members. How many times have they meditated between oedipally warring husbands and sons?
Hillary's role in Obama's Administration prepared her for this role: Secretary of State. In the Bush years the State Department became totally demoralized as GOPers like Bush think diplomacy is for, uh, girls.
The only respectable diplomacy in a GOP Administration is gunboat diplomacy.
Under Hillary, State finally got out from years of being under Don Rumsfeld's thumb. Hillary was the point person in Obama's push to repair our international standing that in early 2009 was moribund.
Mediation doesn't always mean we solve all the difference of opinion between ourselves overnight. Just that we resolve that we won't let these differences destroy us. This is a role that Hillary alone with her background in Obama''s State Department is able to do.
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