Do You Have to Be STUPID to Still Support Hillary? (Maybe Not, But it Sure Helps Hillary!)

As an "older", white, female, unapologetically liberal Democrat, I am repeatedly hit with the distinctly unpleasant sensation of being referred to as part of "Hillary Clinton's base".

I find that assumption both ridiculous and offensive, in that it depends on Democrats all being blindly sexist and/or racist. I have rejected that inaccurate label with my vote for Barack Obama, and I pray I'll have another opportunity to vote for this extraordinary man in November.

I guess we've all noticed that there's a lot about this election that's unbalanced, wrong-headed, unfair, and/or downright stupid, and it seems to get progressively worse by the week.

And one relevant dynamic lies with the education and qualification of the voters themselves. So many of the political comments I’ve read and heard lately reflect the demographics of Clinton's supporters vs Obama's supporters; Clinton supporters are significantly less educated, and that fact shows and glows like dumb on Bush or neon in Vegas. Hillarites don't seem to realize that she's exploiting their relative ignorance to serve her pathological sense of entitlement to be President.

(This candidate is scary ambitious.)

Clinton apparently never expected Obama to be much of an obstacle to her getting the Democratic nomination, but when he caught up and slipped ahead of her, she quickly lost her balance, and any sense of fair play...trying to retroactively change the rules for the Florida and Michigan primaries in her favor, where (1) Obama's name wasn't even on the ballot but hers was, and (2) where he didn’t campaign, as per mutual arrangement, but she did, is indefensible.

I think we’ve all had more than enough of politicians thinking they're above playing by the rules, and I for one will not elect another uber-ambitious cheater with a massive sense of entitlement.

And aside from the cheating (or attempted cheating), another very negative, dangerous quality in a President is not being able to control your temper when things don’t go your way.

And not knowing how to pick your fights in the first place!

Remember after (the first) Super Tuesday when Hillary held that press conference to express her moral outrage at the Obama mailers that compared their healthcare plans?

The woman practically went POSTAL, wild-eyed, red-faced, LIVID, waving the Obama mailers and raging "Shame on you, Barack Obama!" And over what?? The fact that Obama had drawn the logical and probably accurate conclusion that there would be some penalty for not buying the mandated Clinton National Insurance she plans to require everyone to purchase?

Seriously, if she loses it that badly over something relatively minor like that, she's obviously way too volatile to be a levelheaded President. And since she fell behind, unless she's in front of adoring, polyester-pantsuit-clad, Hillary-sign-carrying supporters, she's often been about 1/2 tick away from a full-on tantrum.

And no, this is NOT gender-bias - John McCain's just as bad.

Personally, as a 57-yr old Democratic woman, I've been waiting DECADES for our first female (and/or non-white) President- for a long time I held on to the hope that Barbara Jordan in particular (or maybe Ann Richards) would want the job, but they didn't. Not that it would be that hard to find a qualified female nominee for President, it's just that Hillary is NOT the one, despite the fact that she technically fills the bill as a woman. Heck, I'm a woman but I'd make a lousy president.

Hillary Clinton is deeply flawed as a candidate, a fact she proves by breaking (or trying to break) the written and unwritten rules of Presidential primaries, by trying to get her illegal delegates seated, and by giving McCain daily ammunition to use against Obama in the general election if he wins the nomination, thereby defiantly throwing the whole Democratic party under the bus for not immediately “crowning her” President.

Moreover, Hillary Clinton is at least as much of a "situational ethicist" as John McCain, showing a disturbingly similar quick temper as well, along with the familiar Bush-Cheney self-serving sense of entitlement to break the rules.

Not what we need answering that scary phone call at 3am...

Almost as troubling is her increasingly defensive stonewalling on the prefectly reasonable request that she release her financial records as well as White House records to support her heavily padded resume. She's waiting until after the primaries to let that cat out of the bag, thus sparing her base the opportunity to make a more informed decision..

So even though I was working for Gene McCarthy before Hillary switched from being a Young Republican, if the Superdelegates hand her the nomination, I may very well vote, with a heavy, heavy heart, for John McCain.

I miss Gene.