Reply #79: In a nation with 300+ million citizens it has always disturbed me... [View All]

[Poll_Blind]

...more than a little that a sort of quasi-dynastic set of candidates gets so much discussion and promotion. It upsets me that either Liberals or Conservatives would consider, for their candidate, someone related, by blood, to a previous president when at every moment in America there are dozens (if not hundreds) of persons more qualified for the job, save the "brand recognition" of their name. In George W Bush's case, he's the living embodiment of Thomas Paine's "The Crisis Papers"' (IIRC) commentary on the dangers of heredetary transfer of power. He's an ignorant ass, and even that is more than charitable.

When it comes to Hillary Clinton I reckon she would probably make a "decent" president. I'm sure I would disagree with her on some big issues, but voting for president means finding someone most of your party can agree with and putting them forward, not always getting the candidate you, specifically, want.

But I have to ask myself, because I still find it a valid question, "Is the best person for the next Democratic bid for president really the wife of the previous Democratic president? In a nation of 300 million, with about half those being Progressives, is it really the one in a quadrillion chance that the best candidate is Bill Clinton's wife?"

Because this nation is so amazingly, stupefyingly, varied and Liberal politics is so rife with people who have given their all- and sometimes more to advance Progressive ideas, it seems bizarre to me that Hillary Clinton's criteria for President wouldn't include a substantial amount of "brand recognition" of the name. And it just seems like we can be more elegant than that as a party.

I recognize this is unfair to her, because there really is that slim chance that she is (if you could see the future) the best candidate for the job. It just seems very, very unlikely.

It's also something I apply to the Kennedys though in retrospect Edward Kennedy has turned out to generally be a fine politician. Giving the odds at a quadrillion-to-one is hyperbole but the sense of unease remains.

Too much political "inbreeding" isn't likely to make a country as strong as picking from a greater set of ideas and personalities.

PB