"It's not Hillary I dislike, I tell myself, it's the tactics she has recently deployed in her determination to win the Democratic nomination at all costs. "
Peter, you say it isn't Hillary you dislike, it's her win-at-all-costs tactics.
What comes to mind here is a line from Yeats: "How can you tell the dancer from the dance?"
We are as we do. Our actions define us. We jail people who kill other people regardless of how "nice" they might be under other circumstances.
How is anyone to know us except by our deeds? Good works performed with good intentions make us good people, but when we succumb to underhanded acts for personal gain, we become less good. Behaviors that cause others to suffer are not good no matter how much they benefit us. We can dress them up all we like as necessity, but the truth is that we can always find a way to help ourselves that doesn't hurt others. Sadly, not everyone cares to do this.
I think it most telling that Obama has not stooped to the level of backstabbing his opponent, which has cost him votes. His innate decency in resisting such actions makes him many cuts above one who not only fails to resist such temptations but who trades in them.
Dirty tricks never seem to go out of style in political campaigns. In fact, campaigns tend to bring out the worst in most of us.
I am dismayed by recent outcomes in the process of choosing the Democratic candidate. The more I witness, the less I believe that Clinton stands for anything but election, and I truly hope that this time we'll elect a leader who by his own example brings out the best in us.
