I haven't written a diary in a very long time. Mostly I lurk. But my conversation with my parents this morning about Hilary's testimony yesterday inspired me to jot down a few observations about what a smashing success it wall was for Hilary in specific and Democrats in general.
Below the thingie for the whole story.
My parents are in their late 70s and early 80s. They are committed progressive-liberals. Have been all their lives. To say they never liked Hilary is an understatement. My mom in particular has expressed opinions about Hilary that almost bordered on hate. This goes mostly back to the 2008 election when just about everyone in my family was early on-board with Obama. I myself worked on the Obama campaign in WA state and wrote several DKOS diaries back then.
My folks have not found a candidate this go-around that they liked so far while I have been quietly pulling for Bernie. They don't like Sanders' age, what they see as his lack of foreign policy experience, and they worry that his radicalism (what they see as his radicalism) wont play in the general election. But they definitely DO NOT LIKE Hilary!!! Until yesterday, that is.
My parents, god bless 'em, watched the entire hearings yesterday. I mean the whole thing. They came away extremely impressed with Hilary. My mom in particular, who really really really has not been a fan or HRC, just expressed such admiration and respect for her. To my parents (and the nation...?) Hilary came off as informed, intelligent, firm, and cool-under-fire. My mom mentioned how knowledgeable Hilary seemed and how important it is at this moment in history to have someone in the White House with the experience to move ahead immediately on all the problems we have facing the country. That's what my mom saw in Hilary. My dad liked her knowledge and ability on foreign policy matters. He thinks she expressed her competence on the important matters of state and in this area my dad thinks she has a huge advantage over Sanders. My dad has complained before - and did again this morning - that Sanders has no foreign policy. Hilary won my dad over on this score yesterday.
I would say these hearings represented a kind of vague commander-in-chief test for Hilary and judging by my parents' response (not a very good gauge) and by the media's response (better) I would say she passed with flying colors.
Now both my parents will both firmly and gladly support HRC in the primaries and, of course, the general election. So, when the media reports that Hilary firmed up her support among Democrats, I think my parents are the perfect example of this. I would be surprised if there are not many many other stories along these exact lines playing out all over the country just now. I bet Hilary also won over many middle-of-the-road, on-the-fence voters as well yesterday.
I'm glad Bernie is in the race. I will more than likely vote for him in the primary. I think he would win the general election if he could get there. But I don't see a path for him to win the primary.
I think yesterday was a HUGE win both for HRC and also a huge win for Democrats.