Simmer

How many blogs have I posted out here that have come to fruition (or would that be "have been produced through vegetation?") while making a stew? It does seem that preparing stews somehow provides me with enough time to cogitate up something to share.

There's danger in my wandering down pathways of interest before I am before a keyboard. I tend to leave my best writing amongst the potato peelings. Even if I can remember what I've been thinking, by the time I get back to the computer, the spiciness seems to have been left in the Dutch Oven to simmer, leaving me with a bland, half-concoction to toss up here.

So I often try to stop my brain from writing while I'm slicing and dicing. There's definitely a difference between my thinking mode and my composing mode. But it's hard to stop. And sometimes, it's just too late. I've moved to composition mode and the words are just going to come out and I ought to move fast and find a bucket because it's all going to splat out, whether I get it written down (typed in) or not.

And so it happened this afternoon. I was handling a knife, and thinking about the precision with which Hillary Clinton was using her words in the past few weeks. And I was angry. The words came tumbling out. I will attempt to replicate them, below. But know that they were much better over the kitchen sink.

I have a number of friends who are thrilled beyond words that they may soon elect a woman President. While I will surely vote for Clinton should she beat Obama, I will do it with no love lost. I had this naive idea that when I, at long last, was in a position to elect a female as President, it would be someone, um, better. Better than politics. Better than negative campaigning. Better than all's fair in love and war.

But Hillary Clinton is not better. Exhibit A: “I think you’ll be able to imagine many things Senator McCain will be able to say — he’s never been the president, but he will put forth his lifetime of experience. I will put forth my lifetime of experience. Senator Obama will put forth a speech he made in 2002.”

I think I'm supposed to view this is as savvy politicking. A woman triumphing in a traditional male arena. Showcasing her strengths compared to his supposed weaknesses. I don't.

I view it as a person lowering herself to demeaning tactics to win at all costs. Apparently, winning is the most important value for Senator Clinton. It's more important to put down her immediate opponent, and make it appear as though she values conservative Republican Senator McCain's experience over Senator Obama's Democratic values.

What is she thinking? What is her staff thinking? The personal attacks that these candidates have exchanged is bad enough. But to then veer into positive comparisons of a conservative Republican candidate over a candidate from her own party whose stances are, generally speaking, virtually the same as her own? Just a bit of cutting off her nose to spite her face, don't you think?

Clinton is proving herself a master. She's managed to take a huge strength--being an intelligent and charismatic communicator--and turn it into a negative for Obama. Good thing none of Bill Clinton's Democratic primary opponents didn't choose to do the same. We'd have missed out on 8 years of prosperity and Democratic leadership.

I'm hoping that, in the coming weeks, Clinton will have gained some experience herself. That she'll come to realize that attacking her colleague and possible running mate rather than the Republican nominee is foolish and short-sighted. Unless she apologizes for doing so (and how likely is that, given her complete inability to admit she was wrong for supporting the Iraq war?) my support will be tepid at best.

Liz