Hillary, the Chameleon

We’ve fallen behind the news cycle here on the Balcony. Hillary won the Pennsylvania primary by, what, ten percentage points, but from the media hype the day after you’d have thought she won by ninety. ABC News reported breathlessly about Hillary’s “double-digit” victory, and how she had successfully appealed to gun owners, bowlers, and beer drinkers.

Sweet Jesus, the day-after stupidity was nearly too much for a sane, thinking person to accept. Bowlers? Beer drinkers? The absurdity of Hillary Rodham Clinton trying to pass herself off as a “Regular Jane!”

The mainstream media is full of nitwits who rarely ask questions that matter, and even when they remember what it is a real journalist is supposed to do and ask a direct question, they too easily let the candidates get off the hook with bland answers. Hillary Clinton has been running for President for a long time now and I still don’t know what bedrock values she wouldn’t -- under any but the direst circumstances -- compromise away. (In fairness, I can’t answer that question about Barack Obama, either.)

Hillary Clinton is a successful politician, but she’s not a leader. Hillary commissions polls and then adjusts her positions accordingly. Leaders present their followers with positions and policies based on values. This doesn’t mean that leaders are infallible; after all, George W. Bush has steadfastly and slavishly pursued policies based on Conservative values that have inflicted tremendous damage on our republic.

I’m ready for a woman – white, African-American, Asian or other – to be President of the United States, as long as she has a vision for the nation, respect for the rule of law, and a willingness to honestly confront our most pressing issues, such as, and not necessarily in order of priority, economic inequality, the environment, foreign relations and health care.

Hillary’s campaign people are in Indiana now, polling likely voters. I expect it won’t be long before Hillary rolls out a homily about her long lost Uncle George or Samuel or Randolph or Clay, a salt-of-the-Earth farmer who settled in Indiana and tilled the land, worshipped God, and was the proud and responsible owner of a .30-.30 rifle, a 12-gauge over & under shotgun, and a Civil War vintage revolver.

I can hear Hillary’s stump speech now: “I remember my Uncle George, who loved this great state and its people. Uncle George believed in the old-time values of hard-work, faith and self-reliance. When I think of my uncle, I know that I too am a Hoosier in my heart, one of you. When I’m elected, I promise you I’ll find a place in my administration for Bobby Knight or Larry Bird.”

Or some such shameless pandering.

I may be ready for a female president, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready for Hillary. Her hubby duped me once, but I never trusted him again, and I don’t remember the Clinton years with fondness; Hillary’s cut from the same duplicitous, smarmy Ivy League cloth. Power’s her trip, and she’ll say or do anything to obtain it and keep it.