However,
as his campaign proceeds, it is increasingly evident that he is not yet ready
for promotion to the presidency.
He has
run his race on the basis of being an agent for change. So far, he has not
given much evidence of what change he is advocating and how far his changes
will go.
His
health plan, for example, does not cover everybody; he is spending time trying
to fix Social Security, which most experts agree is in relatively good shape,
rather than Medicare, which does need help; he talks incessantly (and piously)
about bringing people together without explaining what that really means; he
makes naïve claims about his mastery of foreign policy - e.g., that he is
"experienced" because he lived overseas for six years as a child -
that make him look insubstantial; and for all his touted freshness in global
thinking, recently rather than embrace the most important international
organization on the planet, the United Nations, he attacked it in Portsmouth,
New Hampshire, for its "flaws" - something conservatives do all the
time.
In my
view, he is a good person who simply lacks a substantive enough track-record
in national and international issues at this point in his life to handle the
presidency.
My
choice is Hillary Clinton. We who live in her home state, New York, have known
and admired her for a long time. We know what America is now discovering about
her - namely that she is an unusually tough and savvy political figure.
While
she has outshone her competitors in the presidential debates, she displayed
similar aptitude and adroitness in her senatorial runs in New York
State.
In her
current campaign, she has presented an array of liberal alternatives to the
Bush Administration but again she has done much the same during her time in
Congress.
She
has known defeats (e.g., health care in 1994) but she has now turned her
reversals into legislative prowess on the Hill.
Her
work on the Senate Armed Services Committee and her fact-finding visits
overseas belie the notion that she has limited foreign policy
experience.
Her
vote for the congressional resolution on Iraq in 2002 was a vote for continued
weapons inspection and diplomacy and in opposition to preemptive war as she
clearly stated in her Senate floor speech.
She
has had her share of personal setbacks or woes, but she had invariably
displayed a poise amidst all of them, which has discomfited her
adversaries.
Meantime
she draws on powerful reserves of support from the minority community and
women. Abroad she remains an inspirational leader for the United States.
The
American primary process once again reveals the strengths and weaknesses of
our presidential contenders, despite its costs, its length, and its
confusions.
The
contest this year has given the American electorate a clearer picture of the
formidable presence which Hillary Clinton will bring as the party nominee and
which she will surely bring to the chief executive post in Washington.
StephenSchlesinger@MaximsNews.com
