I'm a Clinton supporter. I don't intend to argue about it, but here are my opinions below so that you can think about them, I guess, and so you can see that it's not just "people being unfamiliar with Bernie."
My biggest personal issues are Having a Non-Fascist Government, abortion rights, Guantanamo Bay, and income equality (especially reworking the federal minimum wage), in that order. After that there's a lot of other things like climate change, carcerality, no more drone wars, trans rights, and stuff.
It's true that she's a credentialed candidate, which is another way to say that she's developed support with established institutions. She's established in some ways, not in others. I don't think that any woman with Bernie's "maverickhood" and lack of polish would have a prayer of getting into the White house. Any woman who has any kind of chance is going to be an "establishment candidate." Period.
I do not think that Bernie Sanders is diplomatic enough to deal with the likes of Vladimir Putin. I'm not even talking about his lack of experience in foreign policy; I'm just talking about his directness and lack of subtlety, which are excellent in a renegade senator, but not so great in a president. Biden would have been a terrible president in terms of foreign policy.
I also think that Clinton has been smeared a lot by the media circus, usually in misogynistic ways. The media is getting a big kick out of Trump saying outrageous things. I am sure that she has many flaws. However, I have not yet seen any arguments against her that were not, in large part, made of misogyny. I don't feel comfortable considering any argument that on its foundation deals with her being shrill, unlikeable, scoldy, too loud, whatever, or which seems to treat her like a monster. So far these are all of the arguments I have seen. For me, a precondition to considering someone's argument against her is that they attack her policies, rather than using sexist dogwhistles. The statements that she's too pro-business are, I think, very legitimate criticisms--not because she takes money from corporations, which I think is reasonable, but because I'm not sure she'll actually start taxing the snot out of rich people, which I would like for her to do. I'm also not sure that she'll be able to be tough enough on corporations when it comes to climate issues. Again, that safe fracking thing... >_>
On the other hand, Bill ran a budget surplus, so I'm hoping that she'll raise taxes.
I remember that when Obama came into power, there was a sudden increase in the number of ads featuring black families. The discourse immediately changed. I don't feel like Obama has a fantastic record on every issue, and I feel like he's appeased the tea party more than I'd like; but he's done a lot, quietly, for marginalized people, he's working on Guantanamo Bay (another one of my red-button issues) and Obamacare has honestly saved my butt. Another Obama sounds pretty good to me. Not great, but good.
Abortion is an extremely serious concern for me given how much it has been eroded lately, especially as a person who has been raped and who is currently very low-income, and I think that Clinton is likely to work with it well. I don't think that any other candidate will address that concern meaningfully, at all.
I do not think you have to be a woman in order to care about and argue for abortion rights, for women's rights, but I have been severely disillusioned by Obama and his "wives, mothers, sisters" rhetoric and his leaning on the Lily Ledbetter act. I can tell you personally that I have seen institutional misogyny on the rise in an absolute absurd fashion, and I don't say this as a matter of rhetoric, as a matter of Being a Feminist, as a matter of talking points (I don't even "identify as a feminist," whatever the hell that means. I'm just trying to act in my own self-interest, which includes having a paying job, because my value on the marriage market is not high; assuming I'll just be a house wife and take care of the kids will not work). It's getting really bad right now, guys. It's getting scary.
Sanders is a single-issue candidate who doesn't seem to have any concrete policy plans outside of "being really popular." I agree that income inequality is the absolute greatest concern for this particular country today, without a doubt. I'm very glad that he's in the playing field, not because I see him as "moving anyone leftward," but just because it's good that somebody is saying the things that he's saying. However, when your single issue is poverty, it is really important to understand that, for example, the single greatest element that sways women's ability to stay out of poverty is control over their reproduction. I don't feel like he cares about that very much.
He marched with King, and was arrested. This is important. However, I'm actually the child of a former activist, and I can tell you that it doesn't take that much bravery or knowledge of someone's situation to march somewhere and be arrested, especially when doing these things was somewhat popular, as it was during the 60s. Being arrested does not, in itself, help anyone. It does not even necessarily signal one's true commitment to a cause. Hell, I had a student who marched with Black Lives Matters and got hit with tear gas, the poor SoB, but constantly said horrible shit about poor people. It can be meaningful, but to me it's like one of those resume-stuffers that all of the rich white college girls have. "I helped children in Africa this one summer. They were suffering so much." You need to have more than singular, dramatic acts. You need to have boring nuts-and-bolts policy all in place, ready to go.
Therefore I can't say that his single issue is "income inequality." His single greatest concern is income inequality in white men. This is a meaningful concern. My family has poor white, straight, cis men in it who need help.
However, it also has poor lesbians and poor Latinas and poor people with disabilities in it, who in fact constitute the majority of my family members. I have a black family member. I understand he has intimated that working on class inequality will take racism and sexism with it. It will help, but there are other concerns which I think are completely off his radar. He even said lately that he didn't understand the black experience because he wasn't poor, hadn't grown up in "the ghetto"; but then, I feel like he must implicitly not understand income inequality in his interest group, poor white men, either.
Therefore I do not think it is in my best interest to vote for Bernie Sanders.
I know that Clinton isn't a very "sexy" candidate. It's true that unflappable measuredness doesn't hit you hard in the emotions, and we need someone to believe in; we want passion. But I feel like she has what it takes to get some shit done, bit by bit, and I don't trust that Sanders' fiery rhetoric is backed up by a lot of substance.
I want to believe in him. I just can't. I need more than "this person says he cares," I need a plan. I need somebody who is going to just kind of, you know, work on things.
However, in the event that it's President Sanders or President Trump, I want President Sanders. Without a doubt.
Trump appears to be a fascist, which concerns me. I can't comment on or consider any of his other policies in the wake of his suggestion to register religious minorities, and his apparent appropriation of the Hitler salute, and his treatment of dissidents. I am personally threatened by his point of view, as are my family members. I very much hope that he is not elected.
I've also never been able to forgive him for what he said about John McCain.
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Topic: Murrican Politics Megathread 2016: There Will Be Hell Toupée (Read 1581032 times)