Why am I supporting Hillary Clinton for President over Bernie Sanders?
I’m getting asked this a lot lately. Here’s why.
Yes, it’s true I am very supportive of Hillary Clinton for President. I worked for her and President Barack Obama’s campaigns back in 2008 with so many amazing people. I think one of them, my friend Addisu Demissie’s response to Senator Sanders criticism of President Obama’s leadership on The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell explained how I feel about the race much better than I ever could yesterday on his Facebook page. Below is a link to Senator Sanders’ interview with Lawrence O’Donnell. Addisu’s response is pasted below it.
“There’s a huge gap right now between Congress and the American people. What presidential leadership is about closing that gap,” he told MSNBC in an interview Wednesday that will air in full Thursday evening on “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell.” Asked if he believed President Obama had closed that gap, Sanders said: “No, I don’t. I mean, I think he has made the effort. But I think what we need, when I talk about a political revolution, is bringing millions and millions of people into the political process in a way that does not exist right now.”
Below is Addisu’s response.
As a strategic matter, this is not a smart way to start your campaign for the Latino and (especially) African American Democrats who love their President and are increasingly important in the race for the Democratic nomination.
On the substance, as many of my friends today have noted and I want to echo, this is incredibly frustrating and just wrong. As someone who spent two whole years of my life essentially working to engage more disaffected people in politics on behalf of President Obama’s agenda — and largely SUCCEEDED, thank you very much — this whole idea that our President didn’t and hasn’t led in exactly the way that Senator Sanders is lamenting is pretty insulting.
If you think you can do better, Bernie, okay (p.s. I don’t) — but at least argue HOW and WHY and don’t just yell ‘political revolution’ at me and then diss the efforts and the progress of the last 7 years.
The one thing I would add to what Addisu said is that with all due respect to Senator Sanders, I’m disappointed with his record on gun control which is a very important issue for me. Hope this helps explain my support for Hillary Clinton.