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Hillary Clinton. |
Perhaps more than at any time in recent memory, Plainfield voters on Tuesday will be casting votes for the kind of country we want America to be.
In the darkest moment I can recall -- the contested election of 2000 -- it never occurred to me that we were on the brink of overthrowing our democratic institutions or chucking the Constitution in the wastebasket.
However, on Tuesday voters are actually faced with such a choice.
Donald Trump has campaigned on anti-Black, anti-Latino, anti-woman, anti-Semitic, anti-free speech and anti-due process "dog whistles" throughout this whole process.
Hillary Clinton -- who is certainly not without her flaws (no president has been without them) -- has shown for thirty years that she has the gumption, the temperament and the tenacity to lead the country.
Some find her wonkishness off-putting, but think about it for a moment: Do you really want a dummy with Attention Deficit Disorder as chief executive? Someone who can't focus for more than two minutes and will be putty in the hands of others?
Some are concerned about Clinton's high "negatives", as if being President of the United States was somehow comparable to being your high school class president. One of her opponents, Libertarian candidate Bill Weld, has had the grit to declare that she has been unjustly maligned for years. I'm with him.
As for "negatives", we should remind ourselves that Abraham Lincoln had the highest "negatives" of any one ever to be elected. That there were strong currents of opposition to him in New Jersey and many other states before, during and after his election -- even throughout the Civil War.
He took it all in stride and today is considered one of our greatest -- if not the greatest -- presidents we have had.
We are not electing a saint. No president was ever a saint. We are not electing a savior. No president was ever a savior.
We are electing someone with the temperament, experience, vision and fortitude to lead our country for the next four years.
Hillary Clinton is the only person among our choices who fills that bill.
Tuesday will be your chance to say what kind of country you want America to be.
Take advantage of it.
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