Hillary and Bernie, two great candidates

[Onlooker]

I am Bernie supporter, but if you read my posts they are generally in defense of Hillary, and sometimes critical of Bernie. I don’t see this race as black and white. I don’t see Bernie as the great Democratic Socialist hope who leads us into a land of plenty or the ignorant idealist who will get nothing done. I don’t see Hillary as the consummate politician who will rewrite Washington or as the Darth Vader who will leave us in misery and embroiled in war.

This is a race between between two great people.

Bernie since his youth has maintained democratic socialist principles, and his principles were a strict litmus test for his action. Even his compromises often came after largely one-man-battle, such as his fight for single-payer health care. For most of his career, he believed in states’ rights. On issues like gun control and gay marriage he believed those should be local decisions. I think that was pragmatic, given his political position. He played a major role in creating the only liberal rural state in the nation, though Washington and Oregon are starting to come on board.

In his role, he had an advantage. He started with a liberal state with a largely homogeneous population, not only in terms of race, but in terms of Wall Street’s influence, of church influences, and even of big media influence. He did not face a strong Christian right or political right. But, to the extent possible he demonstrated in Vermont that progressive principles can work, and work very, very well.

Hillary traveled a different course than Bernie. She started as a Goldwater girl, but then went to Wellesley, the famous feminist college in the Boston area, and corresponded with the great community organizer Saul Alinsky. By her early 20s, she was a liberal Democrat. After she married Bill, she became an advocate for children and families. From there she moved up the ranks of the political establishment, arriving at the place she is now, the frontrunner in the Democratic Primary for President and an archetype for a woman president of the United States.

Throughout her career, she was to the left of center, earning her friends among women, blacks, Latinos, gays, and unions, even though she had her share of missteps and defeats. She has been driven by broad liberal goals and the pulse of her constituencies, not by timeless rock-solid principles. She does not shy away from difficult choices and cannot be beaten down by the machinations of her political enemies. She has been an active part of all the positive that has come out Washington, DC since the 1990s.

Bernie and Hillary are two great candidates. Both will change the United States for the better, but they bring very different qualities to the table. Hillary brings her toughness and the power of the Democratic establishment to wage political battles for political change. Bernie brings his integrity and the power of a social movement to effect political change. Hillary's goals are more liberal than left, and Bernie's are more left than liberal, but these two candidates are far from opposites. They might have very different approaches for bringing about change, but both of them have histories showing that they aim to make our society more equal, just, and safe.