Response to The Other Two

(See: Just Above Sunset: The Other Two)

I watched the Clinton/Sanders debate last night, at least half of it. I agree with Josh Marshall that the two seemed to be looking for something to argue about.

They shouldn't have, since it's probably what forced Hillary into ridiculously accusing Bernie of siding with right-wing Minutemen, or to keep pushing her point about Bernie having voted against the auto bailout, another ridiculous argument that apparently most Democrats can see through, given all the criticism she's taken for it after she launched that balloon a week or so ago -- and which, it could be argued, helped her lose Michigan on Tuesday. That kind of foolishness may help her during the general election, but probably hurts her in the primary season, when you're mostly just talking to 
people who know better.

(An aside: This is not to say I agree with Bernie's stated reason for voting against the funding bill that included the auto industry bailout -- that it included the bailouts of the banks, which he opposed. I did not oppose the bank bailouts, which I saw as probably necessary for keeping the economy from going over the edge -- although I do find unlikely the notion that no individuals committed any fraud that contributed to the whole collapse, and that nobody deserved to go to jail. And yes, all this stuff is complicated! We need to just accept that, deal with it, and get on with the elections.)

While this debate may not have had much new to offer, it did serve to remind us that the younger of the two candidates still comes closest to representing the "old" way of doing politics, which may still hold sway among Republicans, who famously never did "nuance", and still don't. It's left to the older candidate to appeal to the cut-the-crap young voters who, having not grown up with it, are less accepting of the idea of overlooking the obvious bullshit claims of politicians, simply because everybody knows all politicians lie.

Which may be why I -- respectfully, me being a truly boring liberal -- disagree with this reaction to Hillary's saying about the claim of the Benghazi relative that Hillary misled her, “She’s wrong. She’s absolutely wrong", and “This was fog. This was complicated":

That was a mistake. Americans don’t believe anything is complicated, really. There’s always a simple answer, even if there isn’t...

Correction: Conservatives don't believe anything is complicated. Democrats tend to me more accepting of complication.

That's why polls show that, despite what Republicans would have you believe, Barack Obama is still a very popular president among the many of us who don't see him as a wimp because he refuses to carpet-bomb Syria or "torture" people, just to show how tough he is.

In fact, it's hard to imagine what Hillary's "simple" answer should have, or even could have been. In fact, her deciding to go with what she sees as the truth (and it's too difficult, at this point, to determine whether she's right) is really the best argument against the Republicans' attempts to over-simplify her role in the so-called Benghazi "scandal".

Truth is good. Whenever possible, it's best to go with truth, if for no other reason than it helps bolster our brand.

So then we are left with this question:

Between the old-style politics of Hillary Clinton, or the straight-talking politics of Bernie Sanders, which would make the better president, given the age we live in?

On the one hand, maybe her boring pragmatic experience of working within the system would be more effective that his head-in-the-clouds idealism, to get done what needs to be done.

On the other hand, if he defeats Donald Trump, it's just possible that The Donald's ex-followers, oddly enough, might become part of Bernie's coalition, especially in regards to trying to undo the damage done to the blue-collar working class by the so-called elites.

While I'm sure I'll be okay with either one of them winning the election -- they both have their plusses -- I also realize that they both have their minuses, and also that, except for my anxiety over the possibility of some Republican winning, I'm not all that enthusiastic this year.

What could possibly make me feel better? Maybe this scenario: One of the candidates chooses Barack Obama as his or her running mate! Then, at some point part way through the first term, the president resigns!

Or maybe, how about both candidates selecting Obama for vice president? Hey, why should the Republicans have all the fun this election year?