The problem with Clinton

I don't talk about Hillary Clinton that much, mostly because the Republicans are just so much more interesting, and when I do talk about her I don't really mention her husband former president Bill Clinton because when I criticize her I want to do so based on her own merits and not the policies of her husband.

That said, when he is campaigning for her I think it is worth a bit of discussion.

I like Bill, he managed to combine approachable with presidential in a way that not many in the modern era have done, he also did a pretty good job with the country all things considered and left us with a lot of prosperity that Bush immediately began wiping out. But he was not without his problems, while the free trade agreements he signed at least have some arguments in favor of them the same cannot be said of the 1994 crime bill that he, and Hillary, pushed hard for, it was a pretty brutal sign of how the war on drugs is prosecuted, and a dangerously racist program that should never have been associated with someone called "America's first black president".

For someone who relies heavily on support from the minority community, the Clintons are not going out of their way to make friends there, with Bill specifically accusing BLM of defending black criminals or something during a recent rally.

The fact is, that crime bill had a few things in it that were actually good, like the assault weapons ban, and funding for community policing initiatives that we don't see at all today, the argument can, and has, been made that without the sentencing guidelines that are the main problem we have with the  bill it would not have passed. Hell even Bernie Sanders voted for it.

But.

That was then, over twenty years ago, we have had a lot of time to see the damage those sentencing requirements inflicted on the minority community and now we can see that things need to change, while Sanders has been acknowledging that, the Clinton camp has been basically plugging their ears and doubling down on it, and it baffles me that they would, Hillary has changed her position on many things during the course of this campaign, and here is where she draws the line?

Now I don't have a problem with changing your positions, if it comes from a place of growth, and she had a great chance to demonstrate that on this issue, simply saying "The bill was a bipartisan compromise, we worked with those across the aisle to craft a bill that we though would help the most people as well as meet goals that both parties agreed on. Today some parts of that bill are unfairly being used on the black community, that was never what I wanted to do and if elected I will work to change those parts of the law while keeping the ones that have proven to work."

But she didn't, and he is out there stumping with the same points, which leads me to suspect that they actually are true believers on that aspect of the crime bill and really do think that all parts of that package are working as intended, which shows am almost willful ignorance and callousness that I am not sure I am comfortable with in the leader of the country.

But that is sort of the story of Hillary Clinton, she's kinda terrible and thirty years ago would probably be considered a Republican if not for her stance on social issues, She's the second coming compared to Trump, Cruz, or Kasich of course, but I would like it if I didn't have to vote for her in the general election.