2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: My Endorsement of Hillary Rodham Clinton for President [View all]Martin Eden
(12,863 posts)Hillary Clinton helped to enable that invasion with her vote for the IWR. If she honestly believed the administration of GW Bush would act in good faith with UN inspectors in a shared goal to determine whether Iraq had WMD, then she is not neraly as intelligent as you apparently think she is and is unqualified to hold the position of POTUS, or SecState, or US Senator for that matter. It was obvious by October 2002 the White House Iraq group was engaged in a systematic campaign of propaganda to sell the war pursuant to the stated objectives of PNAC and its signatories in the Bush administration.
But I think we both know Hillary Clinton isn't that stupid.
She was either on board with the neocon agenda or made a political calculation (as she so often does and continues to do) that puts her personal political ambitions ahead of principles and ahead of the good of our country.
All of the above are disqualifiers, as far as I'm concerned. The IWR vote is inexcusable, unforgivable, and led to devastating consequences that continue to plague us today. For this same reason I refused to support John Kerry and Joe Biden in their quests to win the Democratic primary for president.
I distrust HRC most among those three. Her neoliberalsim/DLC background and friendly ties to big Wall Street donors also make her unacceptable, but the IWR vote alone is enough for me. I believe she is a Hawk on foreign policy, and has no intention to change the disastrous course we've been on.
The fact that you don't bother to mention these huge strikes against Hillary Clinton renders your endorsement of little value in terms of an honest, objective, and thorough evaluation of her qualifications for the highest office in the land. Several member of the Bush administration also had impressive resume's, but that is hardly reason for endorsement.
If you object to the comparison, I call your attention to your putting Bernie Sanders in the same boat with Donald Trump:
neither of whom have demonstrated anything approaching Presidential demeanor and in fact seem to have the opposite qualities in several cases (arrogance, irritability and impatience, just to name a few).
Our country needs real change, not status quo neoliberalism. We need a candidate who inspires and motivates voters to go the polls and vote not just for president but for House & Senate races as well. GOTV will be the key, and HRC does not hold it.