in Musings, Politics

Hillary’s “tough bitch” problem

Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton Campaigns In Las Vegas
Hillary Rodham Clinton had some big wins during yesterday’s Super Tuesday primary elections, including North Carolina. Last night, a female Clinton supporter had this today about her on a Facebook thread of a mutual friend:

[A friend] asked me today if I thought HRC could take on Putin. I told him “Oh yeah, she’s one tough bitch. No problem!”

This is precisely my problem with Hillary Clinton, that this would even be a consideration. Clinton’s desire to be “caught trying” often means she skips right over the “speak softly” part to the “carry a big stick” part. The last thing our country needs is a leader far too eager to look tough.

I wore the uniform in the early 1990s and served during Desert Storm. Since then I have cast a jaundiced eye towards unnecessary military adventures with dubious goals and shadowy benefactors. I’ve also become a parent of two kids. Maybe that makes me little more sensitive than others to the possibility of dropping bombs on somebody else’s kids, usually for the benefit of the arms industry, the oil industry, or some other big-bucks special interest group that sees nothing but dollars in destroying foreign people and places.

Any trust I had in Clinton being a good leader was severely eroded with her ill-conceived vote authorizing war in Iraq and she has done little to restore it. I have no doubt she is intelligent, so why couldn’t she see what so many others could see about Iraq, that it was a sham? When the chips are down you see what a person is really made of. She failed that test.

Why does this champion of women crow gleefully when we sold tons of military equipment to Saudi Arabia, weapons almost certainly to be used to help suppress its own people? Saudi Arabia is not exactly known for its support of women’s rights, you know. It seems that for Clinton, supporting the sisterhood quickly took a backseat to defense contractor profits (and millions of dollars in donations to the Clinton Foundation from the Saudi Kingdom). And why did Hillary not support the efforts of Saudi women to even have the goddamn right to drive? Saying she felt she would hurt the cause doesn’t cut it. To her credit she finally came around, but only after public outcry here in America.

I don’t want a President who feels he or she has to act tough simply because it will hurt his or her image if not. I want a President who will use all the tools at his or her disposal to get a job done, with the military ones being last. I want a President who wants to be caught not just caught trying but caught trying to do what’s right. I hope Hillary Clinton can be this person should she become President but don’t blame me if she’s given me reason to be skeptical.