Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Hillary vs the world

I didn't watch it, but I was just reading about last night's Dem debate. Now seems to be the time for all the hopefuls to take shots at Hillary. Again the idea of the lying, disingeuous, slick, double-talking Clinton is the message of her opponents on the left and the right.
I don't think she's a liar. I don't think she's a flip-flopper (a concept so stupid, I'm not even sure what it means). I don't think she is her husband.
I think she's doing much what John Kerry did in 04 when the questions about solutions in Iraq came up. She's taking a wise, moderate approach to complicated issues. The next President cannot possibly know what the final solution to many of these things will be. Political reality is that they will have to cut a deal with Congress, their own cabinet and staff AND things can change. Keeping some opitions in the future requires a candidate to be a bit vague on how a policy should look.
At the moment, I'm leaning toward Edwards but I could be comfortable with any of the Dem candidates as President.
Anyone who is elected President eventually will be accused of lying during the campaign. This is not because they are a liar, it is because things change and policies can't turn out to be exactly what was discussed on the campaign trail. The more specific the campaign proposals, the more likely that the end product will differ from the proposal.

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