I’m planning to vote for Hillary Clinton in tomorrow’s primary. My colleagues, Bob and Charley, have done an excellent job outlining the case for Hillary; I don’t have a lot to add, other than to say that I agree with much of what they’ve written. Like them, I have reservations about Hillary; like them, I think the good about her, both in her past and in what she wants to do as president, outweighs the bad. And, like them, I think Hillary has been battle-tested in a way that Bernie Sanders, who has only run for office in Vermont of all places, simply has not. I worry about Bernie’s ability to weather the onslaught against him in a hard-fought general election campaign; I worry less about Hillary’s ability to do so (and I think that head-to-head general election matchup polls are largely meaningless at this point). I could be wrong about all that … but so could you. And I worry about serious questions that have been raised about some of Bernie’s signature proposals, and that really haven’t been answered.
It’s a tough call. They’re both strong candidates, and I’ll happily support whichever of them wins the nomination. But tomorrow, I’m with her.
or at least filling in the arrow with the Sharpie for, but most of the arguments advanced here against Sanders seem less than convincing to me. The weakest argument — which I hear all the time — is that he’s not “battle-tested.” What does that mean? What is he going to do? Does anyone really think Sanders is going to melt into a puddle in a debate with Donald Trump? Anyone who has reached the age of 74 is battle tested.
Also, the argument that Sanders hasn’t fully costed out his Single-Payer healthcare plan is unfair. Even if the Sanders campaign tried to do that, their projections would be torn apart by the economists who really just don’t want him to win. The ACA wasn’t fully planned or costed out until Obama became president and had the governmental resources to begin to fully design and implement it as policy. The same arguments being made against Sanders’ healthcare proposals were used against proposals for what is now the ACA — it would be too expensive, it would require higher taxes, Congress would never pass it etc.
between “hasn’t fully costed out” and “seems to be based on assumptions that are unrealistic.” Also, the criticism that he hasn’t said anything about controlling costs vis-a-vis doctors and hospitals (where a lot of the money is) strikes me as a solid one.
Re battle-tested, it’s not about Sanders melting, or about debates – we know how Sanders will be in a debate because we’ve seen it several times. It’s about what happens when, for instance, a massive ad campaign skillfully uses his own words about raising middle-class taxes and others against him (honestly, the ads write themselves). Maybe the other side will be so paralyzed by Candidate Trump that it won’t happen. Maybe.
Will vote for Hillary. Which in the long run may be a mistake. I voted for Sanders at the FDR school in Hyde Park about an hour ago.
Doesn’t change the preparedness and well-rounded side of the equation though.
This has been the single biggest determinant I’ve seen. I’ve seen Hillary get the support of plenty of affluent people who were well settled in professional careers before Ronald Reagan, let alone Bill Clinton. She’s also the overwhelming choice of people closer to my own age in the 35-45 range, who have six-figure incomes and nice homes. Although apparently Christopher is, none of the many people I know personally who are having a hard time economically are voting for her.
I actually have heard Democrats echo the Biden argument that the nominee should run on “Obama fixed the economy and things are great now.” I could not imagine a more disastrous approach to take. Two-thirds of the country thinks we’re going in the wrong direction and incomes remain stagnant at best for most people
…rather than as an individual. Given details of my circumstances that I won’t get into here I’m not convinced that either candidate will be able to wave a wand and make my life better. Plus, all the indicators DO seem to be going in the right direction. If Clinton is the candidate of the groups you suggest, then I guess the party has more of them than you thought or would like, given that she is leading.
re the black vote, which last night (and before) went overwhelmingly for Clinton, resulting in her lopsided wins in those states where African-Americans are a big factor in the Democratic electorate. That, rather than old rich white people, seems to me Sanders’ biggest problem, as I just posted.
My wife and I are registered Democrats who have never missed an election or primary vote, dating back more than two decades now. We had lawn signs for Senator Warren and President Obama. We get calls and door knockers every election cycle. So, we’re on the party radar. On top of that, our oldest son will cast his first ever vote today. He’s registered independent, but there’s three potential votes in our household.
We have gotten three live person calls from the Sanders campaign – one for us, two for my son – plus one robocall. We’ve also gotten Sanders literature in the mail and a Sanders door knocker. From the Clinton campaign it’s been radio silence.
If Bernie wins MA today, that outreach effort will be the reason why. I’m starting to wonder if Hillary has a ground game. Maybe she’s ramping it up elsewhere, figuring she can win MA without too much trouble in November. Yet the lack of outreach smacks of inattention and/or complacency, and I wonder if that’s a major reason why Bernie’s been abl to make this a race and why the overall Dem vote totals are less than inspired.
Just from my vantage point, Hillary’s campaign (the machinery, not the candidate) looks to be a little low energy.
Here in Somerville, I’ve had 2-3 visits at my door from each campaign. I got mailers from the Clinton campaign three days in a row.
I’m not sure that the experience of any individual household translates very well into sweeping statements like “less than inspired”.
The “less than inspired” comment I made was about overall Dem turnout, aka it’s way too low. Yet I do have a first time voter in the house and only one campaign reached out to him.