Why I Have Mixed Emotions About Hillary Clinton Running for President

Few politicians in the modern age ignite as much passion — pro and con — as Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Everyone in America seems to have already formed an opinion about her.  Most negative perceptions are jaded by bogus allegations and wild exaggerations, groundless witch hunts dating back to the days when the Clintons were in Arkansas (which have repeatedly produced no tangible evidence of any wrongdoing), and misogynist double-standards for women candidates and officeholders that simply don’t apply to men.

Given the intensity of the vitriol directed at her, Hillary Clinton isn’t just running with excess baggage.  She’s carrying a suitcase factory loaded with boulders on her shoulders.  If the hate factory that churned out lies and ran non-stop, 24/7 for the past seven years which waged so effectively against President Obama seemed ugly at times (proof:  poll the number of idiot Americans who still think he’s a Muslim), just wait for the 2016 campaign to begin.  It’s going to get really ugly this time around.

Oh yes, we can expect the right-wing venom machine to launch an even more nauseating cesspool of sludge.  Indeed, a cursory glance at social media over the past day or so since Hillary Clinton announced her intent to run for President reveals that the disinformation campaign of phony stories spread by bullshit “news organizations” is already firing full blast.  It doesn’t matter that much of the source material is fictionalized.  Once their lies are exposed, they simply close down shop one website and then open up another.  It’s all manned by a sea of young conservatives sitting in boiler rooms slinging filth and hate which masquerades as “political activism.”  By comparison, it makes Nixon’s Watergate “plumbers” and dirty tricksters look like boy scouts.

The trouble for Democrats is — there are a lot of fools out there who believe this crap.  And that’s where Hillary Clinton has a serious problem, what some might call an Achilles heel of glaring vulnerability.  Hillary Clinton’s record of public record is a long one, arguably the most comprehensive of any serious candidate in recent memory.  Governor’s wife, First Lady, Head of Health Care Advisory Committee, U.S. Senator from a key state, Presidential candidate (twice now), Secretary of State — this is a lady with one hell of a track record, and you can be sure every single e-mail message, speech, and notepad will be dug through like old garbage outside a mansion.  Any gaffe or potentially damaging discovery will be amplified like an Angus Young guitar solo at an AC/DC concert.  One can rightfully presume that the race to the White House could turn into a real Highway to Hell.

Assuming she gets the Democratic Party nomination (I make her a 1-2 favorite), she’s likely to run against one of the flunky parrots in the Republican Party who would normally have trouble getting a sit-down interview to shine Hillary Clinton’s shoes if this election was about qualifications, experience, and true leadership.

To be sure, Hillary Clinton isn’t perfect.  Nobody is, and it’s about time we start cutting those running for office some slack when it comes to personal affairs and events beyond their control.  This goes for both liberals and conservatives.  Unfortunately, mud is what the public craves, rather than any substantive discussion about the economy and world affairs, one reason the government is so monumentally dysfunctional at times.  We’re all wrapped up in personal e-mails, invisible flocking geese in Benghazi, Vince Foster’s suicide, and even Clinton’s own personal relationship which should be private — as if infidelity and marital difficulties are really newsworthy nowadays.  Meanwhile, corporate gangsters have hijacked the entire political system and no one seems to give a flying fuck.

Frankly, I’ll now admit my mistake — from 2008.  I should have supported Hillary Clinton.  That was her time.  Then.  As for now?  I’m not so sure.  I knew then she was a true believer in most of the liberal agenda and there would be no mistake she’d be a tenacious fighter on behalf of the progressive ideals we champion on the left.  Trouble was, I didn’t think she could get elected.  Now, I’m even more convinced of her vulnerabilities, not because any of the garbage about her is true, but because we’re probably ready to move on and want something fresher and newer, however kooky the new voice in the opposing party sounds, at times.

Hillary Clinton’s worst enemy is time.  More to the point, her time has passed.  If there’s an affliction called “Clinton Fatigue” now, just wait until the election cycle ramps up and every news organization in America is talking Hillary Clinton — all the time.  Half of America is already sick of her, and that won’t change, I’m afraid.  And speaking of time, the real (largely unspoken) concern is whether or not America will vote for an older woman for the nation’s highest office.  A fiery and outspoken lawyer in her 40s — I think that Hillary Clinton would make a terrific candidate (and President).  But an aging woman with some bags around her eyes and baggage in her political closet?  I’m not so sure.

No, it’s not fair.  Life isn’t fair, either.  And national politics is the most unfair of all pursuits.  The best candidate doesn’t necessarily win.

We can forgive Ronald Reagan’s age, which actually was a serious issue towards the end of his second term (he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s shortly after leaving office).  We never made John McCain’s age (or cancer scare) an issue when he ran for President.  We tend to call older men “elder statesmen” and think nothing of re-electing septuagenarians and octogenarians — so long as they’re men.  If Hillary Clinton wins in 2016, she will be 68 years old.  And an intense national campaign waged over the next 18 months will make her look every single day of her years.  Regretfully, we aren’t as forgiving about women when it comes to appearance, as men.

Finally, there’s the quietly whispered but murmuring suspicions among the many liberals I talk to about Hillary Clinton, which could ultimately hand grenade her chances and bang in the final nail on the coffin.  The younger dynamic version of Hillary Clinton, that spirited fighter who once fought for a single-payer health care system for America, that previous edition of an open book titled “It Takes a Village” (socialism sweetened for American tastes) we progressives all loved, may be out of print by now.  Now, she’s likely to move to the center, surrounding herself with World Bank boss clowns like Larry Summers, sucking up to giant corporations, defending the establishment, and essentially selling off her soul principles to the devil at a fire sale price just to get elected.  That usually spells disaster.

Hillary Clinton is undoubtedly one of the most admirable political leaders in modern history.  She’s a marvel, arguably the most accomplished woman in my lifetime.  She deserves our admiration.  Her service was a gift and she will be remembered by history as a pioneer.

That said, I don’t expect her to be remembered as a President, because she can’t and won’t win.

Writer’s Insider Note:  Angus Young, not Bon Scott.