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<\/a><\/p>\nI miss 2008. That was the year when Democrats, at least for a little while, could feel good about any number of presidential candidates. Wasn\u2019t it great while it lasted?<\/p>\n
Now Democrats have one unannounced candidate for 2016. I\u2019d like to feel good about Hillary Clinton, or at least less uneasy. But I\u2019m afraid emailgate is just a preview of what is to come. Maybe there\u2019s an issue, maybe there isn\u2019t\u2014it doesn\u2019t seem to matter, because Clinton herself becomes the issue. Not only her diehard enemies but her would-be supporters join in the feeding frenzy. So I\u2019m trying to step away from the Democrat\u2019s favorite formation: the circular firing squad.<\/p>\n
In a Nation<\/em> issue from last November<\/a> assessing a potential HRC candidacy, Joan Walsh, Salon\u2019s editor-at-large, wrote:<\/p>\n If Hillary Clinton runs and wins, she will be a good enough president. Not progressive enough for me, by any means, but as progressive as anyone currently electable. I expect to vote for her\u2014if not in the Democratic primary, then later, in November 2016. That\u2019s it. That\u2019s my endorsement. . . . . . . My willingness to accept Clinton as a Democratic presidential nominee doesn\u2019t stem from any great passion for Hillary herself\u2014though I respect her\u2014but from my aversion to the impotent game of \u201cLet\u2019s find an insurgent candidate who will topple a centrist front-runner!\u201d played by the left every four to eight years. It\u2019s a colossal waste of political time and energy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n That\u2019s how I feel. Besides, I\u2019d like to skip the crash this time round. Sure, the initial euphoria of the 2008 election was great. But I and many others projected such high hopes onto President Obama that disappointment would have been inevitable even if the Republicans had not undermined him at every opportunity. Why not save myself a whole lot of heartache and start out with realistic expectations?<\/p>\n It\u2019s like first love versus the older-but-wiser variety: not quite as fervid, but a sensible choice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I miss 2008. That was the year when Democrats, at least for a little while, could feel good about any number of presidential candidates. Wasn\u2019t it great while it lasted? Now Democrats have one unannounced candidate for 2016. I\u2019d like … Continue reading