A Redefining Moment

    No doubt, readers have noticed my conspicuous quietness regarding the Democratic candidates in this election cycle.  I am breaking my silence today.

As harshly critical as I have been of many Republicans in this blog, it may shock you that I am not and never have been a registered Democrat.  Philosophically, I am a centrist.  To me, extremism is dangerous territory.  Like the wilderness of geographical fringes, political fringes often are inhabited by people with wild ideas and few solutions.

     The folks who disturb me most are hypocrites who thumb their noses at the Constitution, rattle sabers, and use a twisted shield of “traditional values” to deflect “inconvenient” laws.  I also take umbrage to extremist leftists who burn and pillage in the name of “social justice.”  While I do not personally wear mink or support industries that negligently kill whales and cut down rain forests, assault or vandalism masquerading as protest is still a crime.  Without the courage to even show their faces, the fact that anarchists cannot organize a sentence let alone a political platform is a bonus.

     After reading a lot about moderates and centrists I realize that I fit the demographic precisely.  I am middle-aged, Caucasian, female, college educated, and socially tolerant.  I favor renewable energy and infrastructure investment, moderately conservative economic policies, and am politically engaged.

     Of all the candidates who ran in the GOP primary, I liked John Kasich best for his soft-spoken, moderate platform and his tenacity.  When it came to the Democratic primary, I had a harder time choosing a favorite.

     I admire Bernie Sanders, but with his “socialist history" I never anticipated that he would go as far as he did.  The announcement of his candidacy was completely unusual.  He stepped out of the Senate, told a throng of reporters he was running for President, looked at his watch, turned, and went back to work.  But, his legislative record is impressive.  His confrontation of former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan was epic.  His campaign message and crowd appeal was stunning.  For example, in my former home of Seattle, he packed the 17,000 seat Key Arena in early March. When 5,000 people had to be turned away, he returned two weeks later and filled the 47,000 seat Safeco Field.  His speeches and his platform were passionate, inclusive, progressive and incredibly appealing to a “No Party Preference” voters like me.

     Hillary Clinton’s candidacy, on the other hand, was a forgone conclusion.  If ever there was a time for her to make a successful bid for the Presidency it is now.  Her experiences as a Senator and Secretary of State make her the most qualified person who has ever run for the office of President, bar none.  I have absolute respect for her as a public servant.

     But, I worry about her political stock.  She continues to be the target for so much opposition, I have privately defined Clinton as “a s—t magnet.”  Opponents have tied her to the worst parts of her husband’s personal history.  She is smeared with gender bias, is said to “represent the status quo,” and is as despised by some as the terrorists who killed our diplomatic family in Benghazi.  Only Hillary Clinton could be targeted for a vindictive investigation regarding emails.  Meanwhile, adversaries deny her amazing tenacity, education, political acumen, and the broad international esteem she earned as Secretary of State.

     Clinton is respectable, but she is not viewed as likable.  She was part of the Obama administration, but she does not get to carry the same warm feelings of “hope and change.”  Not only is Clinton offering voters a thoughtful, moderate platform, she also presents a clearly defined path to accomplishing her goals.  With all that we know of Clinton, her record, her platform, and her tenacity, why is she still being treated as an unknown political quantity?

     Hillary Clinton is a woman.  Our basic human nature wants to put new concepts and items into “boxes” so we can compare new things to more familiar things.  There is no comparable, comforting box for a female United States President.

     As always, Hillary Clinton is defining herself.  American voters will either see or deny who she is and what she stands for.  Clinton likely will become America’s first female president.  A woman in the Oval Office most certainly will redefine for America and the world the strength and ability of women everywhere.

     Based solely on Clinton’s qualifications I support her bid for President.  As a woman, I look forward to the self-defining moment when the leader of my nation finally looks like me.