Hillary bandwagon heading for the White House

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Imagine a presidential candidate who has actually lived in the White House for eight years and been witness to the process of decision-making at the highest levels of government.

Imagine a candidate who has run for president before, who has been chastened by defeat and strengthened by years of service as secretary of state, working enthusiastically and cooperatively with her former political opponent.

Imagine, further, a candidate who is brilliant and disciplined and cool under pressure, someone enormously experienced, internationally and domestically. Hillary Clinton is that candidate. On her resume as well are her years as a New York senator, doing her homework, not just diligently, but faithfully, and without grandstanding.

So, you say you don’t like her. She seems too cold, too calculating. I say, you don’t know her and neither do I. How many citizens get to really know our candidates for office? We form impressions from what we read and what we see on TV. We give our vote, too often, to the affable guy who seems like a kindly granddad (Reagan) or a straight-talking one-of-us sort of fellow (Bush).

And then we elect Bush a second time. So how did that work out for us?

We, the electorate, need to grow up. We need to select our next president for the right reasons: intelligence, experience, strength and political savvy.

I have no idea whether Hillary Clinton is a really nice person, and I don’t care. I believe that among the emerging class of 2016, she is clearly the best and the brightest. I like her ambition and her drive; she can get things done in this country — for education, for health care, for security — that have been on the Democrats’ wish list for years.

I don’t expect to have dinner with her, and neither do you. We don’t need to approve of her wardrobe or her hairstyle to believe that she will make a good leader.

Some say that at 69 she’d be too old to be president. But I’m leaning toward the argument that with age comes wisdom. I can’t think of another candidate who is anywhere near as qualified as she is.

The fact that she would have Bill Clinton at her side is an enormous asset. The country was better off economically, and surely in better standing internationally, under his watch than under his successor.

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