Hillary's Vote, Again

A lot of energy and many many words are being expended in print and on the Internet criticizing Hillary for refusing to apologize for her vote authorizing Bush to go to war in Iraq, as a last resort.

Many of these commentators seem to looking for the perfect candidate. In reality, we don't vote for the perfect candidate, because there is no perfect candidate. What some of us do is for vote against a candidate whom don't like completely.

Some of us voted against Gore because he showed little patience for Bush's fantasies during the debates.

Some of voted for Nader because we liked him better than Gore -- in effect we were voting for Bush, because we knew that Nader did not have a chance.

So we got Bush, much to our regret.

Some of us voted against Kerry because he flip-flopped on the war resolution, or his hair, or his rich outspoken wife, or his long horse-like face.

So we got Bush again, very much to our regret.

OK, maybe Hillary Clinton was trying to avoid being slimed by Karl Rove if she either voted against the war resolution, or spoke forcefully against it later when more evidence surfaced that Bush had lied.

So what? If she was trying to save her political career, is that an unforgivable sin for a politician? What would the country have gained if she had committed political suicide? She took the cautious route of giving Bush enough rope to hang himself.

So Bush hanged himself.

And Hillary survived politically. She is, by far, the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination and the Democratic party is favored to win the Presidency and both houses of Congress.

Our job as voters is to vote for the politicians that are most likely to implement strategies that come closest to our visions for the country.

Punishing politicians because they are not perfect may well lead to the election of politicians whom we abhor.

That's what happened in 2000 and 2004. Do we really want it happen again in 2008?