USAToday "Clinton deserves credit for making history" USAToday 2 Days Ago "Secretary without honor" [View all]

[pantsonfire]

Her breakthrough is often buried or disregarded. There are many reasons for that, some good and some foolish, some her fault and some not. But the fact remains: A major political party is going to have a woman at the top of the national ticket.

Apologists for Hillary Clinton’s alleged criminal mishandling of classified documents say that it doesn’t matter, that she really did nothing wrong, or nothing significant. But the real question is not so much what she did as how she has responded to being found out.

Never mind that at 21, Clinton sounded like Bernie Sanders. “We feel that for too long our leaders have viewed politics as the art of the possible,” said the woman who later ran against Obama and Sanders as the realist in the room.

Back in the 1990s, Clinton was an undisputed pioneer — a transformational or at least transitional figure who ushered in the era of the first lady as feminist, activist and presidential partner. Now, on the brink of a far more profound advance for women, even if some of us can’t summon unalloyed joy, at the very least we owe Clinton recognition and respect. She’s done it. She’s made history.

I saw some heroic acts in combat in Vietnam, things that made me proud to be an American and a Marine. Clinton is the antithesis of that young captain (he left top secret codes out/unencrypted for anyone to look at resulting in the entire military changing their codes as a precaution), someone with no honor, little courage and commitment only to her endless ambition. This has nothing to do with gender, party affiliation, ideology or policy. It is a question of character — not just hers, but ours. Electing Clinton would mean abandoning holding people accountable for grievous errors of integrity and responsibility. What we already know about her security infractions should disqualify her for any government position that deals in information critical to mission success, domestic or foreign. But beyond that, her responses to being found out — dismissing its importance, claiming ignorance, blaming others — indict her beyond anything the investigation can reveal. Those elements reveal her character. And the saddest thing is that so many in America seems not to care.

Exerpts:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/06/07/clinton-deserves-credit-making-history-jill-lawrence/85554642/

Blockquotes:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/06/05/hillary-clinton-email-scandal-consequences-integrity-honesty-column/85205018/