Rethinking Mayor Pete Buttigieg 24 hours after my fawning post

Damn, I just learned how to say his name and yesterday wrote a fawning post about him, Pete Buttigieg, comparing him to his fellow shiny object, Beto O'Rourke. I even compared his emergence and ascent to Barack Obama's candidacy, smugly remembering how I predicted, from Day One that Obama would be President. And I thought here could be Obama 2.0. Then I remembered how I lost faith in Obama, after two years of happily volunteering, the day he was inaugurated and wrote extensively about him in this blog about what a disappointment he was and why. I, and millions of idolizers, failed to see beyond his message of Hope, to see that he was not a progressive, that his lack of experience did make a difference. Ok, I adore Obama, the person, just not the politician.

And along comes Pete! The embodiment of everything trump is not. We are so desperate for someone who can read, articulate an idea in full sentences, has a calming presence, is steady. Pete's all that...and I fell for it. Again. Here's why I've gone sour. I read an in-depth analysis, in fact you could call it a hit piece, on Current Affairs, All About Pete. It could be considered a little over-the-top as I'm sure Pete does have some depth but this is the part that got my attention...after you read it, I'll tell you why:

"But there was soon something even more disquieting. Talking about politics on campus, Buttigieg says:  

In April 2001, a student group called the Progressive Student Labor Movement took over the offices of the university’s president, demanding a living wage for Harvard janitors and food workers. That spring, a daily diversion on the way to class was to see which national figure—Cornel West or Ted Kennedy one day, John Kerry or Robert Reich another—had turned up in the Yard to encourage the protesters. 

Striding past the protesters and the politicians addressing them, on my way to a “Pizza and Politics” session with a journalist like Matt Bai or a governor like Howard Dean, I did not guess that the students poised to have the greatest near-term impact were not the social justice warriors at the protests […] but a few mostly apolitical geeks who were quietly at work in Kirkland House [Zuckerberg et al.]

I find this short passage very weird. See the way Buttigieg thinks here. He dismisses student labor activists with the right-wing pejorative “social justice warriors.” But more importantly, to this day it hasn’t even entered his mind that he could have joined the PSLM in the fight for a living wage. Activists are an alien species, one he “strides past” to go to “Pizza & Politics” sessions with governors and New York Times journalists. He didn’t consider, and still hasn’t considered, the moral quandary that should come with being a student at an elite school that doesn’t pay its janitors a living wage."

You see, my son, Benjamin McKean was one of the leaders of the PSLM, Progressive Student Labor Movement, that was sitting-in the President's office to demand a living wage for Harvard workers. It was an extraordinary protest that went on for three weeks and would have been incredibly hard to walk by that, if true, Pete did. It kind of made me sick and mad and made me see him in an entirely different light. Here's how the protest went down:

From A Brief History of the Living Wage Debate at Harvard
April - May 2001

Nearly fifty students occupy Massachusetts Hall, which houses the office of the President and other university administrators, in protest of Harvard's poverty wages and the administration's refusal to consider the living wage issue any further. During the three-week sit-in, the campaign organizes daily pickets and rallies drawing up to 2000 people, collects 400 faculty signatures in support of a living wage, gains the endorsement of four U.S. Senators, and draws sustained attention from the national media. Every night nearly a hundred people sleep in dozens of tents pitched in Harvard Yard outside of Mass Hall. Hundreds of campus workers mobilize to demand justice from Harvard and support the sitters-in. Over a hundred Harvard alumni/ae stage a mock sit-in at the Harvard Club of New York in solidarity with the protestors in Cambridge. 

May 2001

After three weeks, 25 students leave Mass Hall with an agreement from the university to create a committee (known as the Katz Committee) with faculty, administrators, students, and workers, charged with studying Harvard's labor policies and recommending changes by December 2001; to announce a moratorium on outsourcing until the committee's deliberations are complete; and to renegotiate a contract with the janitors' union in early 2002.

Undergraduates who participated in the sit-in are put on disciplinary probation. Students at the law school are given official reprimands.

Dining hall workers settle a contract with Harvard, raising the pay of all but a dozen workers to above the Cambridge living wage level.

If he's the candidate, I'll vote for him. But now I eye him with skepticism. GO BERNIE!

We're going to be talking about him anyway during this primary, so here's a helpful pronunciation guide: Buddha-judge, Boot-a-judge, Boo-tuh-judge, boot-edge-edge
You're welcome.























Here's a guide if you're still interested; Buddha-judge, Boot-a-judge, Boo-tuh-judge, boot-edge-edge

How is it possible that the Nation is held hostage by a Trump minority base of dunces?

I've never been a hostage. Before now. I've heard of people being taken hostage, you know, on the evening news, listened with fear for their lives, sympathy for their situation while sipping my cocktail and checking Facebook. With knitted brow, I try to imagine what it must be like to have no control over your life, your very existence in someone else's hands. Well, now I have an inkling of what a hostage feels like because I, and the majority of citizens who are living in the United States, are experiencing the same feeling of loss of control over our lives, of running in a maze with no way out. 

As a hostage must hope, with every cell of their being, that someone is planning to rescue them imminently. We, too, (I'm assuming everyone who is not a trump supporter is 'we') hope and wish/pray that we will soon escape this national hostage nightmare. One thing I can say for sure about us, we are not afflicted with Stockholm Syndrome. (The 'base' likely is but that's for  another time.) The virtual sound of choppers overhead, heroically coming to help us escape, is about a likely as Ivanka making daddy take a truth serum. 

So much has been written and postulated about who those trump supporters are exactly. Are they stupid rural voters who never read a book? Are they greedy white collar pigs who are simply motivated by self-interest, the hell with the planet and poor people? What up with people of color voting for trump...even one? Holy shizzle, who the hell are those 53% white women who voted for him? Or better yet, how about them Obama voters who voted for trump? We know that about 30% of them voted against Hillary but what about the other brain-dead 70%? Seriously, does it even matter, at this point, because those base voters ain't moving from their unwavering position of support: "A Washington Post/ABC News poll found that 96 percent of Trump voters said that supporting Mr. Trump was the right thing to do and 2 percent said they regret their decision."

Here are the numbers when we hear trump's base is at 36%. The total amount of votes was 128,838,341. Hillary got 65,853,516; trump got 62,984,855. trump's stuck-in-quicksand base of 36% is 22,661,591. So, 22, 661,591 fucking people are HOLDING 106,176,780 PEOPLE HOSTAGE! How is that even possible? Pandering to such a minority and 'winning' is incomprehensible to me. Oh, and let's not forget the 90,000,000 reprobates who didn't bother to vote in 2016, and who, I wouldn't be surprised to learn, are railing everyday against POTUS. 

Right now, I can't see a way out of this. The Democrats have no answer except for their exceedingly stupid slogan, "Have you seen the other guys?" I will not go into how exceedingly stupid the Democratic Party is altogether but don't count on them to rescue us. Besides, they don't listen to anyone. Would you say they are paternalistic in their "Father Knows Best" snide treatment of Independent/No Party Affiliation voters? 

As a hostage, I have learned several survival tactics: cocktails, beer, wine, friends (no politics talk), inane tv, staring out a window for several hours to empty your head. It's a good time to organize your closets. What you think would help, but doesn't, is hiking in nature because it only reminds you how trump is coming for the national parks and the planet in general. Sorry, I have no answers or clever repartee. I just wanna know how this hostage situation is allowed to continue. If you have any ideas about 'why', please let me know. 

But you DO know what you have to do: VOTEVOTEVOTE and work your ass off making calls, walk precincts, drive people to the polls, be a poll watcher, register people to vote, write letters to your newspaper (they're still around for now), protest every chance you get. If you've moved, RE-REGISTER TO VOTE. And VOTE 2018.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/california-forum/article150045012.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/california-forum/article150045012.html#storylink=cpy

Illegitimate Trump Régime Inaugurated As The World Weeps

Today is the first day of the rest of our lives. Everything that can be said, has been said about resistance, about trumpageddon, trumpocalypse, facism, dictatorship, corruption, gold-plated toilet seats. My last post, two days before the election November 6, pretty much covered the hellish daily reporting to come: Hillary, Trump, Election 2016. What did we do to deserve this?

I also entreated people: "But wait! Close your eyes and meditate in your time machine back to 2008, three days before the election. Damn! Life was electric! We were in a state of euphoria! Higher than kites with Hope and Change just around the corner! Our adored and esteemed candidate, Barack Hussein Obama, on the cusp of becoming the next President of the United States! OMG, life was good, life was happy. There was no question who we were going to vote for. Working side-by-side for two solid years with love and respect for our fellow volunteers - all over the country I may add - giddily, we went to the polls, thrilled to be able to vote for a candidate we believed in. What a difference eight years make."

Obama's policies didn't produce the hope and change we strived for. On this blog, I wrote impassioned dissents but never once did I question his sincerity, his intellect, his virtue, his charm. I look forward to Citizen Obama emerging as a forceful leader and defender of our rights and forming a new resistance movement. He is inspirational. People will be motivated to join him. 

And now, I want to acknowledge the greatest grassroots campaign this country has ever seen; and, likely, will never see again. Well, not in my lifetime. The Obama '08 campaign ignited a fierce activism. People forged deep connections by working for a singular goal...to elect Barack Hussein Obama the 44th President of the United States. Yes We Did! Two of the best years of my life.

Love abounds for each and every one of you who was part of the campaign. Soon, I will put up a website where we can post our Stories of Self, memories of the grassroots campaign, and where, hopefully, we can reconnect with dear friends we met during the course of the campaign. We will never forget. 

Hillary, Trump, Election 2016. What did we do to deserve this?

This is the worst of times. Fear and despair hang like Damocles swords above our heads, Trumpageddon, Hillarygate, Russians snooping around to unlock our weakest link, the rising tides of climate change, the newfound freedom by Deplorables to bash anyone's head in who they deem, from their point of view, deplorable. What else? There's more but you can fill in the blanks. The brutal toll this election has taken on our fragile psyches, not to mention our physical health, well, it'll be a long time coming til we get over it. Heal, no. There is no healing when we face the prospect of what's ahead. To put it quite simply, we're fucked.

But wait! Close your eyes and meditate in your time machine back to 2008, three days before the election. Damn! Life was electric! We were in a state of euphoria! Higher than kites with Hope and Change just around the corner! Our adored and esteemed candidate, Barack Hussein Obama, on the cusp of becoming the next President of the United States! OMG, life was good, life was happy. There was no question who we were going to vote for. Working side-by-side for two solid years with love and respect for our fellow volunteers - all over the country I may add - giddily, we went to the polls, thrilled to be able to vote for a candidate we believed in. What a difference eight years make.

Everyone has a Story of Self about those amazing years of passionate activism. There will never be another time like that. Yet, here we are. Battle weary from an insanely long campaign, do we have the energy to fight on? We must. We must push back from the status quo, from the DNC stranglehold on the electoral process, from the malodorous corruption within and we must push hard for the 'progressive' platform adopted to appease Bernie supporters because who can believe they really meant it. Massive props for Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, our progressive shadow Presidents.

Say, can we pass a bill about the length of campaigns? Other countries manage to elect leaders with way shorter election seasons. This is just ridiculous. Campaigns costing ONE BILLION DOLLARS. The absurdity of it all.

From now until Tuesday, I will busy myself with books and cocktails. Yes, the choices are beyond regrettable but that is what is before us. Take nothing for granted. Just GET OUT AND VOTE and gear up for the fights ahead.

Dear Hillary - An Open Letter Regarding Your Presidency

Dear Hillary -
You are one tough cookie! I'm saying that admiringly after watching you walk on the hot coals of this campaign, not once flinching, your tight smile and death stare resolute. Grrrl, you've been tested by fire whose burning embers have scorched your opponent leaving him in a pile of ashes. Good, let's sweep him away. (Did you get lucky or what to have him-who-shall-not-be named as the candidate!) You are about to finally summit the highest office in the land, a Sisyphean feat if there ever was one and for that you are to be congratulated! Let's hope all the October surprises have been spent and the next two weeks are a snooze. Somehow, I doubt it but I know you are well-prepared to deflect any onslaught.

I have to admit, I haven't always seen you in this light. Yes, you've been a tenacious combatant skillfully dodging the slings and arrows that came with scandals (self-inflicted or not) and the intense scrutiny of public life. But you have also been very adept at holding your finger up to read the zeitgeist - being 'flexible' with your positions, adept at mis-remembering, being tone deaf to the actual day-to-day misery of the majority of the citizenry and of having a miscreant love affair with Wall Street bankers. I'm still not sure where you stand on climate change. Fracking and the TPP still seem to be in play despite your come to Jesus pivot. The need for middle class jobs and taxing the wealthy are, hopefully, a revelation. I don't doubt your genuine benevolence for children and families, as you often mention, but all that caring cannot divert attention from your record on these other things. And it is your record that keeps me from lining up behind you, not, as some have implied, your hair or your voice or your pantsuits. It's a matter of beliefs and policy that are at issue for me.

As you probably can tell, I am a #stillBernie supporter and I will forever grieve for our country that Bernie wasn't allowed to become our candidate. Forces behind the scenes made sure of that but since you are the least objectionable candidate for President, I will vote for you because...Trump.

Here is what I would like you to do once you have been elected President. Since the DNC has ostensibly adopted the 'most progressive platform ever' and you have promised to follow through with everything you said on the campaign trail...no flipping...it would be great if you followed through by starting with your appointments. Your new BFF, Elizabeth Warren, is the perfect person to consult with about that. You know, no Wall Street snakes in any positions whatsoever period. And consult with Bernie because we know he has his finger on the pulse of the disaffected masses. Absolutely do not disregard the discontent of Trump supporters. They offer valuable lessons on what is not working in this country. Both Bernie and Trump have tapped into the seething rage over a 'rigged' economy, lost jobs, no jobs and terrible trade deals to name a few.

So, this is the way I hope it plays out: At the first meeting of your Clinton Cabinet, all - and I mean ALL - the uncomfortable issues that came up during the campaign are put on the table, analyzed and really 'go deep'. Look at every issue in a new light, from a new angle with creative out-of-the-box thinking. Challenge each other. Upend the status quo. Whether you like it or not, 2016 is a whole new world both culturally and economically. To understand the importance of our disparate American cultures, our distinct tribes - and they are plainly obvious - study them just as I assume you studied the distinct tribes in Iraq: Shia from Sunni Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians, Yazidis, Iraqi Turkmens. The United States is a hot bed of multiculturalism and must be examined accordingly. The Democratic 'most progressive platform ever' is a perfect road map.

Progressives will be watching you very closely and will keep pressure on you and your administration like a tourniquet. We have seen what establishment politics has gotten us - Donald Trump - so don't be doing the same crazy stuff over again hoping for a different outcome. I'm sure after the schooling of this campaign you recognize that.

As the campaign winds down and it pretty much looks like you're going to win - Irish bookmaker, Paddy Power, has already paid out on your win! - you are looking great, relaxed and full of stamina! I wish you the best of luck in your Presidency, Hillary. Your fortitude will serve you well because this is going to be one hell of a ride.

I wrote a long time ago that if people think the Republicans gave Obama a hard time, just wait until Hillary is President. They hate her to their core (sorry), they hate women and the thought of Bill Clinton roaming the halls of the White House...well, they will all suffer everlasting apoplexy. Not much will get done I'm afraid.

We know you have a penchant for secrecy, playing things close to the vest, but it would be advisable to be as transparent as possible. We, the people, deserve to know what's going on. You're going to be our President and our lives depend on you. That's no small responsibility. I'm rootin' for ya!

Hey, if you ever want some advice or ever need to vent, I'm here for you. Just email me. I'm on a secure server.

My sister was a friend of Roy Cohn. Guess who's she's voting for?

Oh, it's a long story about my sister which I shall write about in my memoir - whenever I get around to writing it after I catch up on old newspapers, New Yorkers and learning Esperanto - but to put it succinctly, she's a 'piece of work'. My first wasband nailed her as a cross between Dracula and Auntie Mame. She's a woman so full of judgement, she knows, with certainty, her shit don't stink.

Anyway, she's a rabid right-winger - surprise surprise - and I'm left of progressive so perhaps we will close the circle one day. The day Trump announced he was running for President, she sent him a hundred bucks. At that point, he bragged that he was going to self-fund so I asked my sister why she sent him money when he announced he wasn't soliciting money and didn't want any (ha). "Oh, she said, "I just want him to know I'm supporting him!" in a tone that suggested The Donald would be touched to know that she, ML, wished him well.

Without going into a psychological profile of my sister (remember, I'm saving it for my memoir), she has always been attracted to slimy greaseballs. She married one - the smarmiest greasiest Greek fisherman, eleven years her junior she found on the island of Mykonos. Another story for later. In fact, just today, she reminded me how much she loved smarmy men when she told me she had fallen in love with Paul Manafort, late of the Trump campaign, pal of the "world's nastiest tyrants". Even though he was dumped by Trump, you *know* he's still 'consulting' for the campaign because who wouldn't want this slimmy sonofabitch on their team. 

Knowing a bit about where my sister finds her jollies, it should come as no surprise that she was a friend of Roy Cohn. He was made of sleaze. I remember when she was palling around with him and their crew of lowlifes (she would dispute that), how much she admired him and how much she loved the down and dirty. That was just all so exciting. So, it follows that Cohn being Trump's mentor as extolled in every Trump bio, my sister held Trump up as a shining example - of what? I don't know. She did know Trump and Ivana when she lived in New York so I suppose you could say she's supporting 'a friend'. She just sent him a second hundred bucks a few weeks ago, you know, to solidify the bond. 

BUT, shock of shocks, just today, my sister informed me that she has abandoned Trump! I asked her if she wanted her money back? What despicable thing could possibly have turned this devotee away? Was it that she couldn't take one more lie? She didn't want to be lumped in with all the deplorables? I was dismayed but tried to remain cool, "What was the final straw?" She was completely turned off when she concluded that Trump didn't really want the job, "He's not acting like he wants it." That was it. His lack of ambition did him in. Not his racism, not his misogyny, not his pathological lying, not his sheer ignorance of foreign affairs, not his hair! Nope, he was lazy. 

Me: "So, who're you going to vote for?" Sister: "I don't know. I just can't vote for Hillary." She'll probably just not vote for President and certainly not for Johnson or Stein. End of story.

One less vote for Trump, one vote (by omission) for humankind.

STOP ASKING If Bernie People Will Vote For Hillary If She's The Nominee

The anguished comments and wringing of hands by people who cannot imagine that if Hillary is the nominee - which she won't be - we, Bernie people, won't vote for her because we are selfish assholes who would rather watch this country go to hell in a handbasket than vote for her. They are sure Armageddon is just around the corner come November.

Frankly, this is the most insensitive, ridiculous question to ask of people who are giving their hearts and souls and money and time to a candidate they fully support and believe in and will work for til the last stolen vote is counted. It's downright insulting. Hark, the self-righteous 'tone' (new buzzword) of the Hillary camp in demanding a 'yes' as the only acceptable answer.

I don't blame Susan Sarandon for giving an oblique and questionable answer to Chris Hayes when he stared her down to ask her if she would vote for Hillary in the general if she were the nominee. And Chris Hayes was incredulous when Susan Sarandon's answer wasn't a direct 'yes'. Why should anyone capitulate at this point? The campaigns are still going full blast with Bernie on Hillary's desperate, scampering heels. This thing is far from over.

You know what this question is like? It's like you knowing your friend's significant other has cancer and is about to die and you ask, "So, have you thought about who you're going to date after the funeral?" Fuck those people. I'm voting for Bernie. Period.

And, in conclusion, there is no foregone conclusion. Voting is personal and no, I don't want a President Trump.

Mr. Obama, Have You No Sense Of Decency, Sir?

My blood is boiling. And yours should be, too. This New York Times article just reported that Obama, at a $33,400 ticket fundraiser in Texas for the DNC, told donors that it was time to back Hillary.  President Obama may just have lost the election for Hillary by putting Bernie on the back burner and dissing the whole democratic process. Bernie's legions will not take kindly to this.

"But while he stressed that he was not endorsing either candidate, and that both would make good presidents, Mr. Obama went on to lavish praise on Mrs. Clinton, describing her as smart, tough and experienced, and said that she would continue the work of his administration." 

Guess what? I don't want the next President to continue the work of his administration. I'm not going to list why - I've written plenty about 'why' - but we need fresh thinking and someone with the courage to take on the 'Establishment'. Enough with the status quo.

But the worst part of this is Obama's behind-closed-doors, sneaky 'endorsement' of Hillary. Remember when Mitt Romney was caught on video talking about the 47%? Well, this leak could be Obama's Waterloo. Once again, he's snubbed his nose at progressives. He did it when they put him the White House - make no mistake, progressives early and enthusiastic support was a good part of what propelled him - and now, again, he's kicking them in the balls by not even acknowledging all the progressive supporters' hard work and money and renewed excitement for the political process. Could Mr. Obama be any more disrespectful for the democratic process? He so much as said 'they don't matter'. Imagine if someone told Obama to back out and 'come together' for Hillary at this point in his '08 campaign.

"Mr. Obama has been careful in public to avoid disparaging Mr. Sanders, given his deeper history and relationship with Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Obama also does not want to alienate the liberal voters who have flocked to Mr. Sanders."

Well, Mr. Obama, it's too late. You have pissed off and alienated millions of people. Those "liberal voters" you pretend to care so much about will not forget this no matter what kind of scare tactics you or the media proclaim. Many people are mightily motivated now to upset the whole apple cart and not vote for the coronated nominee because it would only be more of the same. Hillary might be singing the same tune as Bernie right now but she's a terrible singer and, as sure as night is day, I don't think one person believes she will keep her word.

The idea that Hillary as the front-runner and nominal nominee would give her an advantage because of the longer timeline...well, I have no idea what Obama and the DNC is smoking. The longer Hillary is out front, the longer she would be a target for Trump's assaults. He's already started and, as I've said before, he will chew her up and spit her out. He will harp on the FBI investigation, her emails, Benghazi til the cows come home. Any facts about the investigation will not matter a wit to Donald Trump and he will harp on it til his followers believe it as 'fact'. And, that is just the beginning. Bill Clinton will come in for a major drubbing and no stone or cigar will be left unturned.

"Those in attendance described an urgency in Mr. Obama’s tone as he suggested that Democrats needed to come together to prevent an opening for the Republicans, whose leading candidate is Donald J. Trump, to exploit."

What 'opening' is Mr. Obama talking about?

This is a shocking turn of tactics for Obama. To reiterate, he has just royally pissed off millions of potential Democratic voters who 'frankly, don't give a damn' anymore about politics as usual. Let's say Bernie loses and is not the nominee, it would take a few weeks of mourning for his supporters to accept it. If Obama had heaped praise and love on Bernie and Bernie's supporters now, instead of marginalizing them, if he made them feel welcome then they might not see fit to turn their backs on the Party come November. But it would take massive mediation and therapy to get Bernie's people in the Dems corner at this point. Let the chips fall where they may...and fall they will.

Hillary Clinton's 'Smart Power' Devastating For Lack Of Judgment

Reading today's New York Times front page, eye-opening article, "Clinton, 'Smart Power' and a Dictator's Fall" reminded me of how exasperated and angry I felt when I was marching against going to war in Iraq and how sickened I felt when I listened to the vote to authorize military action. I heard Hillary Clinton's vote with a feeling of confusion and betrayal. If all the people I was marching with understood the 'unintended consequences', and we were by no means privvy to CIA intelligence or secret meetings with questionable emissaries, then how could Hillary Clinton and her colleagues in Congress, with all the information they had, misjudge this authorization of going to war?

Well, the answer, my friends, is in this New York Times article for those who prefer to deny the glaring reality that Hillary is a died-in-the-wool war hawk. A war hawk whose lack of judgment is downright scary as summed up in this quote: "Mrs. Clinton understood the hazards, but also weighed the costs of not acting, aides said. They described her as comfortable with feeling her way through a problem without being certain of the outcome." Of course, no one can be certain of an outcome, but this quote may as well have said, "Let's wing it!" and signals a rush to making decisions without serious and deep consideration of what is to come afterward. Vice President Biden was correctly concerned with "not the day after, but the decade after." You can't just 'feel your way' through such a monumental decision.

As for intelligence about Iraq, Derek Chollet, a State Department aide, said that "We, the U.S., did not have a particularly good handle on what was going on inside Libya." "American officials were relying largely on news reports." Comforting.

And disturbingly, "Mr. Ross, speaking generally, said she had frequently consulted her husband: "I'd say, 'Here's what I think we should do.' She'd say, 'That's what Bill said, too." I don't think Hillary Clinton has had an original idea in thirty years - currently, witness her appropriation of Bernie Sander's ideas as they morph into Hillary Clinton's ideas. And I most definitely do not want Bill Clinton as co-President. It's been interesting to watch the hashtag #whichHillary take on a life of its own. I would also ask #whoisHillary.

Hillary supporters will undeniably view this post as 'hating on Hillary' when my concern about Hillary has always been a question of character...nothing else.

Read the Times article. Perhaps you will see it differently but facts cannot be ignored. Unless you are a denier.

Vaginistas Not Ruling My Ladyparts Insisting I Vote For Hillary

Women's Support of Hillary Clinton From 8 Years Ago A Flip-Flop?

If you're a newsjunkie like I am, then you are well aware of the feminist war between 'voting with your vagina' dissidents and Hillary loyalists who want to send those dissidents to hell for not supporting a woman because of her anatomy. The argument for being able to think for yourself, despite your gender, is one that is mysteriously overruled by the Vaginistas as they believe a woman's duty is to blindly support other women. Kind of ironic for people who call themselves feminists.

Having been an Obama supporter from Day One when he announced in January '07, I volunteered for two years along with the most remarkable grassroots organization - grown from seed - and amazing people who dedicated all their free time volunteering to elect Barack Obama. In our group, Obamawood(!), we spent every single primary election together, cheering and crying with joy when our candidate won and spent election night together getting seriously drunk with happiness.

The women volunteering for Obama were perhaps not all Hillary Haters but were squarely opposed to her candidacy because of all the reasons people are opposed to her now: untrustworthy, truth-bending, flip-flopping, elitism, 'inevitableness', hawkishness and not being in sync with her policies. I know first-hand. I was in the trenches with these women. We discussed why we wouldn't vote for Hillary. So, where along the way did those women suddenly switch-up and become fierce Hillary defenders? Did they just forget what they thought of her eight years ago? Did Hillary change that much that now all those shifty character traits have reversed course? Some say they've gotten worse. But what explains this change in perspective? Have those supporters values changed so much that they now think all those negatives, they so strongly believed in eight years ago, are acceptable? This totally baffles me.

I understand the power of personality. Obama was then, and now, an incredibly compelling, charismatic force of nature. He is irresistible and that could explain some of his support but that still doesn't clarify the 180 degree turn to now admiring Hillary, a woman these women previously scorned. It's true, "It's a women's prerogative to change her mind." and so it may be as simple as that. In this case, quite disheartening.

Here is a post of mine from the past...like 2009...about how the women I was volunteering with felt about Hillary: From Naïve to Nobel

Once again, please tell me how women who couldn't stand Hillary when she ran for President now practically worship her. Ack, I'll leave it at that. Women. Sometimes I just don't understand them.

Queen of Illusion, Hillary Clinton, Pretender to the Presidency

Whirling dervish, Hillary Clinton, spins her 'convictions' faster than a monkey can climb a tree. Whatever's expedient that's what she'll say. Yes, people do evolve and change their minds but that's a whole lot of fast track evolving and it feels like just a big con. Her polling shows it: New Poll Shows 60% of Americans Think Hillary Clinton is Untrustworthy and Dishonest (11/6/15) Aren't 'untrustworthy' and 'dishonest' kind of euphemistic for 'liar'? So, you have the Democratic frontrunner for President of the United States who is considered a liar by a majority of voters. That is just sad. Especially if this comes down to the 'lesser of two evils' vote, yet again, instead of voting for a real desirable candidate.  

"Hillary Clinton has always been viewed as the Democrats' best general-election candidate. But new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist polls of Iowa and New Hampshire show that Bernie Sanders outperforms Clinton in those two general-election battleground states."

You know, it would be great to have a woman President but I think it would be the ultimate feminist decision to wait for the right one. Supporting someone because of their gender is as sexist as it gets.

Does Hillary Rodham Clinton have no shame? It's not like she's a magician with amazing sleight of hand. Her tricky record is right in front of us. Just google Hillary flipflops. Why, here's a good one: 6 flip flops from Hillary ‘Real Person’ Clinton An example: “We’ve got to do several things and I am, you know, adamantly against illegal immigrants,” channeling Donald Trump, the Democratic frontrunner "adamantly" tells a talk radio host in 2003. And, she bragged about this just yesterday, November 9: “Well, look, I voted numerous times when I was a senator to spend money to build a barrier, to try to prevent illegal immigrants from coming in. And I do think you have to control your borders.” Read about it here. So, is she the 'neocon' Rand Paul said she was?

People say, "Oh, isn't it great. Bernie's moving her to the left." Honestly, she'd move to Mars if it that's what it took. But what is troubling about her 'move to the left' is that she can't be trusted that what she says today is what she would do IF she is in office. Watch this video of Elizabeth Warren talking about Hillary back in 2004. Buyer beware.

Martin O'Malley said it best: "Leadership is about being clear about your principles." But does she have any? The same lack of conviction was the reason I didn't vote for her husband, Bill Clinton. I felt there was no there, there; no center. They're well paired. Two smart people blowin' hot air in the wind.

Why hang your hat on a lesser comet when you can have a shining star? Bernie Sanders has been talking about his meaningful principles for the last thirty years. He has a center, he has a conscience, he doesn't hold his finger to the wind to decide what he should think. Take a minute to watch a mashup of Bernie's speeches over the the last thirty years. Watch this and know you are listening to someone who believes what he says, who has been fighting for the good fight for years, who has predicted what this country has become: "at 3:25 (1993) Bernie talks about how our country is evolving into an oligarchy." He said that nineteen years ago.
Bernie is our best hope to tackle the problems of the 99%. Fuck the establishment.

And, this is the most troubling. Don't think for a minute, if Hillary is the nominee, that the GOP won't eviscerate her. She can barely beat Ben Carson, for chrissake, by 1%. When they're finished with her...we will have a Republican President. Let's say for a minute, by some miracle she makes it. Well, if you think the GOP hated Obama and effectively obstructed anything he wanted to get done - imagine for a moment how they would work with Hillary. Racism for him, sexism with Clintonism thrown in for her. There is no match for Hillary in the  divisive public figure department. A do-nothing Congress would do less than zero with Hillary. They couldn't stand to see her accomplish a thing. Her supporters are in denial if they think 'she'll show them!' Yeah, just like she marched into her good friends at Goldman Sachs and "told them to cut it out". Boy, they must have trembled in their boots at such an admonition. (Those are her words. True.)

We should be so lucky to have Bernie as our President.
This is what winning looks like! Bernie 2016!