Talk politics.

I thought I might write more pro-Bernie pieces the last week or two, and I haven't. At this point, I don't expect to change many minds before Tuesday.

I think Bernie Sanders is what Democrats pretend to be when they want voters to turn out. Not in every election, even, just the ones they've decided they want to win for once, which is much less than half of them.
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I hope he will be more moderate on nuclear power, which is at least largely containable pollution. If he's not, well, after Fukushima, I understand. But I want a President who is anti-fracking. I do.

And I want a President who wants a living wage. And a President who proposes an FTT. We can compromise on some things. I just want him to be on the side that wants a better life, less pollution, and less destruction.

If you are able to vote in a (USA) Democratic Party primary, I would like you to consider voting for Bernie Sanders.

Jimmy Carter was the first US President I remember. I still like & respect Jimmy Carter, even though in hindsight he didn't really continue the successful economic policies of previous Democrats, and he didn't stop the imperialist activities of the USA in Latin America.

I can like someone while recognizing that they have glaring flaws among their good points. I bring this up because it's relevant to how we look at Barack Obama. Obama is likeable, and he's cool, and his presidency is important to a lot of people--and his foreign policy team is crap. Total crap.

War in Libya with the opposition of Congress--are we playing at being Dick Nixon & Henry Kissinger now?
Trying to depose Assad via the ragtag Free Syrian Army, and probably contributing to the Syrian refugee crisis--instead of offering food aid when Syria was in a five-year drought and a killer famine, possibly thawing relations with Assad, and averting the refugee crisis.
And both of the above empowered "Islamic State." Lovely.
Assassinating Muslim preacher Anwar al-Awlaki. Then assassinating his teenage son. Obama flak-catcher then saying, "Should've had a better dad!" Class act. e_e
The "double tap" drone policy which attacks first responders after an assassination strike, not to mention that our foreign policy relies on assassination strikes at all.
America apparently completely blowing the Copenhagen climate summit in 2009? I don't know as much about this one.

All of this happened when Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. I'm not giving John Kerry a free pass. I'm just saying, if she wants to run on this record, I'm not seeing enough positives to outweigh negatives. It's not really a great record on the merits.

Then she stood in front of a bunch of Democratic primary voters and invoked Henry Kissinger as someone who approved of her state department. Um, OK, you can take a compliment from a predecessor, but trumpeting that is odd. Do you even know where you are, lady? Republicans might accept that endorsement; I grew up Republican, and I think we sort of knew Kissinger was a supervillain, but he was our supervillain. In front of a bunch of liberal US Democrats? Uhhh, no.

Bernie isn't perfect. Drone attacks will probably continue under him in some form. But I think I'd rather take a chance on his foreign policy than on hers. Of course, that's easy to say, given that I tend to agree with him on other issues.

Tulsi Gabbard's endorsement of Bernie yesterday makes me think I'm onto something. Hillary Clinton was a bad Secretary of State who backed foolish policies that caused problems for other countries, including our European allies. And to no advantage to our country.

She has not earned the respect her resumé would imply. And at least Bernie isn't looking to Kissinger as a mentor and role model.

Just one of the reasons I am asking you to vote for Bernie Sanders in your state's Democratic primary.