2016 Postmortem

You can tell a lot about a person by how she handles a challenger. By their last debate, they were practically playing off each other, creatively competing to honestly explain the important issues and articulate good possible solutions. It was a refreshing contrast to the Republicon debates. Also, it gave her the opportunity to show herself capable of perceiving differences between valid and invalid criticisms and responding differentially to them. I have always liked Hillary Clinton, every since that time when she dared to face down the Republicons in Congress, a place where the big money interests reigned, trying to get National Health Insurance for all of us. Decades of nonstop vicious lying about her seemed to take a toll on her, and she was just a little too tense and rigid for my taste by the time 2015 rolled around. Plus, there was the question of whether the Clintons had engineered some kind of under-the-table deal to get a premature coronation. Well, I guess we settled that issue by how the party reacted to Bernie. Clearly, our party is open to questions and suggestions and challenges. During the primary season, I was happy to see how Hillary was capable of learning, changing, and growing. At the beginning, Hillary looked just a little pompous and tone-deaf. I think maybe she was worried about losing the mainstream and was trying to sound like one of them. At one point, she quoted the "All Lives Matter" meme, I believe without realizing what it truly meant. Bernie did not, and he was saying the names of Trayvon Martin, Tamron Rice, and Sandra Bland before she was, and then he let the Black Lives Matter people take the microphone at one of his rallies. After that, I noticed that Hillary realized what was happening and began to listen more and declaim less. I was proud of our party, and I think we were getting through to people. I think we would have won if the other side hadn't cheated. What has happened this year is only a normal primary season. This is just what happened all the other times, during my lifetime. We are always stronger together.