MY Open Letter to Hillary Supporters

Ugh, no ...  This is not the way to do it.  Here is something I think works better.

My open letter to Hillary Clinton supporters:

He might not have been the candidate that you wanted.

But, look at it this way, Barack Obama has a lot going for him and has the potential to very well leverage the advantages that any Democrat would have going into the election.

What is there to like about Barack Obama?

I think that the first thing about him that appeals to me is his commitment to public service.  I don't think that you can say that any Democratic candidate -- primary or otherwise -- in recent years has had such a strong commitment.

The Dean candidacy was about creating structural change in the party.  The Kucinich candidacy was ideological.  As was the Edwards candidacy of 2007-8.  Sen. Clinton has campaigned on the idea of a strong hand on the steering wheel of government.

Barack Obama is campaigning on the idea that a president can be public-minded, that he can serve the interests of the nation as a vocation and that the role of the president as the First Public Servant is just as  important as that of Commander-in-Chief.

Now, I understand that Sen. Clinton has been "delivering the goods" on jobs, on housing, on health care, on retirement ...  For people following issues, it just seems like Sen. Clinton is better.  She seems to know more.  Her solutions seem more immediate.  More relevant.

But in a lot of ways, a campaign platform is just a rough draft, something to show the direction of the presidency, as well as something that contains concrete promises.

Barack Obama is firmly within the big tent of the Democratic Party when it comes to policy.  Sure, I wish he leaned a bit further to the left.  But even a moderate, centrist Barack Obama will restore common sense and wisdom to things like jobs.  Things like health care.  I think that we can count on the public-mindedness of this candidate to make sure that he handles domestic issues with the intent of protecting the many over the few.

Compared to John McCain, there are few differences of policy between Barack Obama and Sen. Clinton.

And, sometimes you just have to move in baby steps.

Foreign policy?

I'm afraid to say that criticisms of Sen. Clinton well-considered, foreign policy is likely to be the same under a Barack Obama candidacy as it would be under her.  Obama is advised by members of the same foreign policy clique that she is -- the "serious" members of think tanks who always seem to turn to militarism as option one and diplomacy as option two.  Zbigniew Brzezinski, in particular, never saw a war, especially a Middle Eastern war, he didn't like.  I'm pessimistic on this front.

I think it's fair to say that our Iraq War future is the same under either candidate:  A difficult withdrawal from the country that is more costly and takes longer than any of us wants.

Was Clinton better for national security than Barack Obama?

No.

Would Clinton protect our foreign friends -- like Israel -- better than Barack Obama?

No.

And, in other things generally ...

We have a pretty good candidate with Barack Obama.

Here is Obama on energy, for example:

http://www.barackobama.com/...

Read up.  This is pretty good.

Here is Obama on poverty:

http://www.barackobama.com/...

Hooray!

Here is Obama on everything else:

http://www.barackobama.com/...

With this guy as our candidate, I think that it is a good idea for all of us who voted for Sen. Clinton in our primaries to educate ourselves on where he stands on the issues.

It has come to my attention that some of you favored Hillary Clinton because you made an emotional connection to her as a woman and because you invested your own dreams and aspirations in her and you feel now that her victory is your victory and her failure is your failure.

Um, don't do that.

This is politics.