H.A. Goodman's column "I'm a Bernie Sanders voter who will not support Hillary Clinton: Here are ten reasons why" makes incredibly little sense. He clearly doesn't understand our founding fathers, unfortunately there we no founding mothers, set up a system of government in which to move forward there would have to be compromise.
There are purists who would "cut off their nose to spite their face." They represent the mistaken idea if you can't find the person who agrees with everything you want you take actions possibly electing someone against everything you want. Goodman sounds like some supporters of Ralph Nader who helped elect George W. Bush and brought us two wars and a devastating recession among other highlights of his time in office.
Goodman, a Sanders supporter, clearly disagrees with his candidate who says Clinton would be an 'infinitely better' President than any Republican running.
After quoting all kinds of useless statistics and polls about what will happen in a general election Goodman goes on to share ten points on why he won't support Hillary.
Number one is Clinton's vote on allowing Bush to send troops to Iraq. Clinton was wrong and has said it was a mistake to trust the Bush Administration to do the right thing. What Goodman leaves out as it doesn't fit his rant is Clinton's clearly stated foreign policy of 'smart power' where sending troops into battle is the last thing she will do only after every other option has been exhausted.
Number two is the Keystone Pipeline which Goodman is against and Hillary is against. The League of Conservation Voters Action Fund has endorsed her and believe she will never let it happen. The President has said he is against it and though he doesn't like it the new Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has apparently accepted that as final. Only Goodman seems to have a problem and neglects the fact every Republican is for building it.
Number three he uses every Republican attack on Clinton for her emails. Maybe Goodman is a closet Republican? He says Bernie speaks clearly on everything and clear speech, as he interprets it, translates to accomplishments. Yet he never mentions any of Sanders.
Number four is his complaint Clinton evolves on issues and Bernie doesn't. Sanders is thankfully evolving on gun control. Evolving on issues when new facts come to light is actually a sign of intelligence. Hillary's election will help the nation evolve on its views of women and based on reading some early Sanders writings on women he has evolved and it's a good thing.
Number five is Presidential Powers. He claims Sanders is a Democrat on foreign policy and Clinton is a Republican and his ego allows him to make his point by referring to another article he wrote. The reality is Sanders isn't a Democrat so accurateness suggests he refer to him as what he calls himself, a Democratic Socialist who sometimes supports Democrats. Clinton was a Democratic Senator, nominated and confirmed by a Democratic Senate, yes Sanders voted for her confirmation, as the Democratic Secretary of State. Hard to claim she doesn't represent the Democratic Party's positions.
Number six refers to the TPP and he claims Sanders never supported it and Clinton did forty-five times. In actuality Clinton as Secretary of State worked to negotiate a version of the TPP which she said could be a gold standard for such agreements. Clinton didn't participate in the last three years of negotiations on TPP and said the final version doesn't have enough safeguards to get her support. One can agree with Sanders who never supported a trade agreement, opposing each one even before knowing what is in it. But it's wrong to misrepresent Clinton's stance.
Number seven is suggesting Clinton is a racist and not really worthy of a response. One need only look at support Clinton is getting from the African American and Latino communities to understand how ridiculous this is. Sanders is having a problem relating to those communities not because he is a racist but rather he represents the whitest state in the union and never had to work with these communities.
Number eight is just funny. Goodman says he wants a Democrat in the White House so he will not vote for one, even one he considers far from perfect and instead would help elect a Republican whose views are an anathema to everything he seems to support.
Number nine is his opposition to the current DNC. This is one point where I have some agreement. But Clinton has already campaigned on rebuilding state democratic parties to fight the right-wing which has taken over Governorships and state legislatures. The DNC needs to focus on what Howard Dean called building a fifty-state party. Maybe Howard Dean would consider becoming chairman of the DNC.
Number ten makes the claim Bernie Sanders is a 'once in a lifetime candidate' and Clinton represents establishment politics. He talks about 'Independent' voters yet Sanders understood better than Goodman those voters aren't really independent which is why he is running in a Democratic primary. Had Elizabeth Warren run we would never have heard of Bernie Sanders. He says no one should ever again be intimidated by the phrase "You can't let a Republican win!" proving he doesn't understand our government. If for no other reason, progressive Democrats must think about the next appointments to the Supreme Court. In the next eight years we may have a least three and it's crucial we have a Democratic President to nominate them and a Democratic Senate to confirm them. Those appointments could have an impact on our lives for decades. Just think Citizens United, Roe v. Wade, marriage-equality or Bush v. Gore. Progressives and every other stripe of Democrat had better heed that phrase.
Goodman really needs to rethink his views if he truly believes in the progressive issues he espouses.