Tag Archives: Hillary Clinton

Politics

Election 2016: Why I’m Voting for Hillary Clinton

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Every presidential election year since I started blogging I’ve talked about who I’m voting for and why. I do this not so much to convince other people, but for myself. Sometimes I think it’s helpful to have a snapshot of what we were thinking at a certain moment in time. My views have changed over the years, so I think it’s interesting to see that over time.

And oh the 2016 presidential election is one worthy of a snapshot. Or two.

Before I dive too deep, let me give the disclaimer that I don’t like blogging about politics. I did a lot of that in 2008 and ended up alienating some folks, myself included. It’s a difficult subject to talk about, and I wish we could do a better job. This year I tried to stick to local politics.

“If two smart and logical people disagree, it’s most likely because they are acting on different information.” -Bill “Billo” O’Donnell (A Truck Full of Money by Tracey Kidder)

Sometimes I think that’s the crux of division right now.

All that to say, this is what I think right now. If you disagree with me, that’s fine. But before you think I’m a jerk or an idiot or something, maybe we should examine our underlying positions.

I’m voting for Hillary Clinton for president. Continue reading Election 2016: Why I’m Voting for Hillary Clinton →

Politics, Twin Cities

Women Shattering Political Glass Ceilings in 2016

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This year’s election has felt more divisive and caustic than previous elections. That’s no secret. So in such an environment, it’s helpful to focus on the positive: Women achieving public office.

On my ballot there are at least three women running for positions that a woman has never held before. I think that’s exciting.

I think it’s worth talking about these potential milestones, regardless of your political leanings.

Let’s take a moment to address why celebrating this kind of diversity is important. Continue reading Women Shattering Political Glass Ceilings in 2016 →

Politics

Yes We Can: Hillary Clinton Made Me Cry

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Let me start by saying I don’t like Hillary Clinton.

But I got teary eyed watching her tonight during the Democratic National Convention. There were two moments that got me: Her introduction video when she said, “See, you can be whatever you want to be,” and in her speech when she talked about women getting the right to vote and her mother being born before women could vote and her daughter being able to vote for a woman for president.

All my life women and minorities have had the right to vote and have had other equal rights and I’ve never thought much of it. But when you realize that only white men have ever been the face of this country’s highest office, it sends a clear message and you begin to wonder about those equal rights. It’s one thing to say a woman or a black man or a Latino woman or a Jewish man could be president, but it’s another thing to see it happen.

I got teary eyed because this election year a woman and a black man had a chance to be elected President of the United States, and for the first time I realized what that meant for my daughter and my soon-to-be-adopted black child. I can tell them, and reality will back me up, that they can be whatever they want to be.

You could say that fatherhood has made me soft, and you’d be right. Thanks to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for proving you can be whatever you want to be.

Politics

Shattering Barriers

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Yesterday while watching Barack Obama’s speech and seeing the unbelievable crowd in St. Paul it started to dawn on me just how ground-breaking it is that the Democratic nominee for president is a black man. Seeing that diverse crowd (and that’s saying something in a state that’s 90% white) and hearing Obama preach it (tell me he doesn’t sound like a preacher more than a politician) is pretty inspiring.

What’s especially cool is that it would have been just as ground-breaking if Hillary Clinton had won the nomination. That’s cool. Though it will be even better when these firsts become commonplace.

Politics

Ignore Those ‘Elitist’ Experts

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The Democratic primary campaign is getting kind of silly. When asked to defend her plan for a summer long gas tax holiday (which will save you $28) by naming a credible economist who think it’s a good idea, Hillary Clinton said: “I’m not going to put my lot in with economists.”

So getting the opinion of experts is somehow a bad idea?

She went on to explain, “We’ve got to get out of this mind-set where somehow elite opinion is always on the side of doing things that really disadvantage the vast majority of Americans.” Oh, so they’re elitist experts. Reminds me of a Jon Stewart bit from the Daily Show about how we should want the very elite running the country (“If you don’t think you’re better than us, then what the &#@% are you doing?!”). I can understand Clinton’s concern that we do what’s best for the vast majority of Americans, but I don’t think that means dismissing expert advice and accusing them of being elitist. That’s not populist, that’s paranoid. Or perhaps political.

The only thing that makes this gas tax debate more interesting is that Clinton and Republican candidate John McCain agree on it.

God, Church & Stuff

Bill & Hillary Clinton Introduce Billy Graham

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Bill Clinton took the stage at the Billy Graham Crusade in New York tonight to introduce Graham and was later joined by his wife, Hillary.

And here’s the money shot:

Graham called the Clintons “wonderful friends” and “a great couple,” quipping that the former president should become an evangelist and allow “his wife to run the country.”

Considering all the hatred for Hillary Clinton (and Bill, but she somehow manages to garner more of it), I just thought it was hilarious that Billy Graham would say that. Evangelical Republicans everywhere will be wringing their hands.