Name:   copperline - Subject:   Reasons to vote for Hillary Date:   8/26/2016 9:56:04 AM

1.         What I am reading is that she will not be remembered as one of the greatest Sec. of State we ever had, and probably was held back in her efforts by Obama who was more personally involved in managing foreign policy issues than any President since Nixon.    Remember, when she became Sec of State, she had just finished a bruising political fight with Obama, but by his second term had resolved enough of their differences such that he asked her to remain on his cabinet.   She will not be remembered as one of the great Secretaries of US history, but she did carry out the duties of that office, logging a million miles of travel to capitals around the world, and benefits from the experience of intense knowledge of world affairs as a result.  There certainly is no comparable experience in Donald Trump’s resume.

2.        Benghazi remains an issue only because conservatives need to have something to attack her with.  At the time, there were riots across the Arab world directly related to an incendiary US-made movie and some crazy Florida preacher who was loudly proclaiming that he was going to publically burn a Koran.  With those riots underway across the region, it was natural assumption to connect the attack on the Embassy to that larger event.   In my opinion, a terrorist cell simply took advantage of a chaotic situation to assassinate US embassy staff who had ventured into hostile territory without enough security.  It was tragic, but can’t be laid at the foot of HRC.   And the obligatory ‘explanations’ demanded by the Sunday talk shows were being made quickly rather than cautiously because American media demands instant answers.   As far as her Senate testimony goes, they grilled her for 11 hours I believe.  Maybe she was a bit irritable and understandably so.

3.        Mixing official emails with personal emails was an error, and she has said as much.  However, using a personal server was a practice used by previous Secretaries of State.  She did not publically blame Colin Powell, her statement about Powell came from the notes on the FBI investigations that conservative Congressmen insisted on reviewing…and then released to the press in yet another attempt to smear her.     If the FBI had found wrong-doing, they would have been forced to recommend charges… to believe otherwise is another conspiracy theory.  

4.        “It appears” is an allegation without proof or evidence.   Her assistant had been a leading administrator of the Foundation for many years prior to coming with her to State… then took a train (on her own dime) to interview a potential candidate for heading up the Foundation.   That's not a grevious conflict of interest if you remember that the Foundation is a Charity, or that her inherent knowledge of it made her a valuable screener for the next Foundation administrator.        “No one gives millions of dollars with no expectation of a quid pro quo”…. But again, it’s an allegation without evidence.   And if the Clintons can get Arab Monarchies to give millions of dollars to a charity whose efforts include the empowerment & education of women (people traditionally held as second class citizens in their culture)… I’d say that was a job well done. 

The Clinton Foundation is a charity that gets particularly high marks for its work around the world… with improving the ability of African farmers to feed their countries, with education of girls, with healthcare in 3^rd world countries.   It will have to scale back if she is elected, and this is quite a shame.  We need groups doing this type of work, and the fact that an ex-President took this on as his mission sure beats an Ex-POTUS playing golf & learning to paint in retirement.

I don’t recall anyone objecting to the CEO of Halliburton serving as Vice-President while his old corporation operated the oil fields of the Middle East and provided the US military with billions in goods and services during his term in office.  Citing Clinton’s ‘conflict of interest’ in a family charity while Sec of State seems more than a little overblown in comparison.

5.        She proposes continued economic policies that have brought us through a huge Recession and avoided a world-wide economic collapse, and that’s good enough for me.   The US economy is improving by anyone’s measures.   And the stock market?   The stock market has always been a house of cards, moving more due to psychology and public mood than underlying fundamentals.  The fact is that after a world-wide crisis, the US is doing pretty well here.    Yes, it’s going to be volatile … for lots of reasons… but let’s recall that a GOP congress created a needless government shutdown, almost defaulted on the US debt, and imposed across the board cuts on the budget that haven’t been very wise nor helpful in stabilizing the economy.   Now the GOP Presidential candidate blithely comments that he ‘knows how to handle debt’ and would consider defaulting on US obligations in order to extort concessions from global partners.  If the stock market looks unstable, it’s probably our fault because the rest of the world is wary of our sanity.  If we allow conservatives to attack US financial credibility like this much more, then we can expect the US dollar to be replaced as the world reserve currency.   THEN we’ll see what happens to a house of cards in a very high wind…..

HRC has made economic proposals that will need the support & debate of Congress to pass… her concerns about the rising cost of higher education are seriously worth thinking about, her advocacy of improved healthcare systems are, too.  Raising the minimum wage to a living wage would bring lots of people who are currently in need of entitlement programs into a more self-sustaining financial position. 

People forget that the government is a huge financial engine for creating jobs and infusing energy into the economy.   If you tie the government’s hands, restrict its ability to tax & invest… then you are leaving our economic future to capitalist corporations whose primary mission is to increase their profits, not to improve the US economy.