Like most other Democrats, I have watched the last seven months of the Democratic Primary and run through the entire gamut of emotions.
Like many other Democrats, I was initially enthralled by Senator Sanders’ message. Secretary Clinton, at least at first, represented to me all that was wrong with the “old guard.”
As summer progressed to Fall, then Winter and now Spring, I watched night after night while the Sanders’ campaign and Senator Sanders himself were lobbed softballs by the media — and while Mrs. Clinton was the ant under the microscope.
Nothing was off limits — her support (as FLOTUS) for bills her husband signed 25 years ago, one vote (among over a hundred) to authorize use of force in Iraq over 12 years ago, speaking engagements for which she was hired as a private citizen — all mulled over ad nauseum, along with Benghazi and the infamous email issue.
I research — extensively. I consider my vote to be a privilege. It’s how I was raised. It’s not something to be cast based on soaring rhetoric or candidate gender. As time when on, the rhetoric — at least from one side — became less rooted in issues and more rooted in character. Unprecedented demands were made of one candidate, while minimal requirements, which had years of precedence behind them, were not demanded of the other.
During this time, I heard little — if anything — about Senator Sanders’ “pre-Congress life.” My research uncovered disturbingly sexually graphic op-eds, equally disturbing calls for the government to take over energy, finance and broadcast (even seize the Rockefeller fortune for social programs), nuclear waste dumped on a poor Latino border town (for which Mrs. Sanders is still paid), connections, sympathies and even praise for communist leaders. Mingled with the pro-NRA voting record, the anti-immigration votes, and the inexplicable delay and stall tactics in producing tax returns, my research (on both candidates) led me down rabbit holes (I never accept less than 3 unrelated sources) and along winding paths.
It is time for the media to do its job — especially those labeling themselves as journalists. The vetting process to which Secretary Clinton was subjected needs to be applied to Senator Sanders. It’s the media’s job to inform the American public; it’s the public’s job to take what they hear and dig around as well. A good part of the independent and democratic voters remain ignorant of what I uncovered — whether by choice or otherwise.
Sometimes tidbits & anecdotes give one more of a feel for the character of a person than their actual achievements or speeches. I was surprised to discover, for example, that Secretary Clinton went undercover, in Alabama, to expose discrimination in schools. I was shocked to read that Senator Sanders didn’t cast his first vote until his 40’s. I found myself annoyed by his brushing off any controversial or “wrong” decision he made or action he took with a dismissive wave.
This election is important. Vitally important. Not only is several generations of Supreme Court decisions on the line, but so are international politics and a world economy (which is tenuous at best), along with the steady recovery the United States is experiencing.
I can’t pinpoint the incident that changed my vote from Senator Sanders to Secretary Clinton. It wasn’t anything even remotely pivotal — I was still with him especially after the 1st debate when he refused to comment on the email issue. It was gradual. When I heard his spiel about her speeches, for example, I thought, “Wow, he’s not a stupid man. He knows that private speakers are paid good money; he knows he couldn’t have made speeches while holding office.” The disillusionment seemed to progress from there.
And yet no one, not the moderators, or the pundits doing the “analysis” pointed that out at the time.
No one has tried to theorize what would happen IF Senator Sanders won and miraculously managed to expand Medicare to all. What would happen to insurance company workers? How would transition work? What would the tax be?
No one has tried to explore what would happen IF big banks were broken up just because he felt they SHOULD be broken up. What about those workers? Wall Street is the heart of NYC economy — what happens to that city’s economy if there’s a financial fallout? I know his answer was “That’s for the banks go figure out.”
Over the past several weeks, Senator Sanders has repeatedly bragged that polls show him beating Donald Trump more handily than Secretary Clinton does. This week he’s calling upon Superdelegates, based on those polls, to change their vote to him.
There are a few issues with that argument.
1. She’s ahead in the popular vote by 3 million votes
2. She’s ahead in the pledged delegate count
3. She’s been vetted within an inch of her life. She has no secrets that haven’t been puked up by the press, chewed over, swallowed and puked up again. And again. And again.
There is no doubt that Secretary Clinton is one of the most qualified candidates to run for President in decades. There’s no denying her extensive knowledge of world politics and finance or her gravitas.
Senator Sanders has not been vetted — and particularly not the way Donald Trump will vet him. And that needs to happen. Soon.
Like really, really soon.