Hillary Clinton Takes a Step to the Left on Health Care

[Furbug]

73. Very Discouraging!

The vitriol directed at Hillary Clinton from some Bernie Sanders supporters is very discouraging to me, and I fear that in a Clinton-versus-Trump campaign, it might result in a Trump victory. Is that really what Democrats would prefer?! I'm not suggesting that Hillary's critics muzzle themselves; only that they stick to facts, not invective and exaggerations of her positions, or insults directed at those who support her over Bernie. It's all well and good to never budge because you feel that you occupy the high moral ground, as Bernie does, but little if anything is accomplished that way in a representative democracy. You have to be able to reach compromises with those who strongly disagree with you, and the Republican race for the nomination shows that there are many of them out there. Consequently, the resulting progress almost always is incremental, rather than transformative.

The Clintons--and she played a major role--attempted, clumsily and unsuccessfully, to advance a single-payer health care solution more than 20 years ago, so to charge her with "suddenly" changing her position is inaccurate. Similarly, analyses of her actual voting in the Senate have shown no basis for accusations of her of being in the pocket of "Wall Street".

So let's get realistic. Bernie is not going to get the nomination, but he can influence the party platform, and he's already doing it. Hillary has demonstrated long-standing support for most of the ideals that Bernie has expressed, and, as President, I believe that she would work toward achieving such success as is possible, given that she may well have to deal with a Republican House and perhaps a Republican Senate, too. She would accomplish a lot more if, after the convention at least, Democrats would enthusiastically support her and the down-ballot races so that she'd have Congress behind her, instead of opposing her, as they've opposed President Obama for the last six years.

So, please, let's not remain so focused on the "perfect" that we are unable to achieve the "good".