Bernie’s and Hillary’s demeanors
I’ve been struck by the very different demeanors these two candidates present. Here’s what I’ve come up with:
Bernie Sanders no doubt comes across as genuine. And I personally think that he really is genuine, that what you see is what you get. It’s one of his most attractive qualities. Note, for instance, how he didn’t pause for a mili-second when presented with Bill Clinton’s observations about the online behavior of “Bernie’s Bros.” He responded in his typical vehement way, words to the effect “That’s unacceptable. We don’t want them. They can just leave the campaign.” My blood runs faster when he calls for a more equal distribution of wealth. But for me this quality ceases to be attractive when I imagine him talking to other world leaders. You can’t just “tell them they have to…”
In Hillary’s case, what you see is not always “what you get.” But this is not necessarily a negative for Hillary in my mind. There are many reasons why her answers don’t necessarily tell the whole story. The most important is complexity. I’ve never heard anyone argue that she isn’t smart, and when presented with a question that allows a 90 second response she has to think hard to boil it down to that time frame. Another reason is that she can’t let herself be dragged into endless discussions of things like e-mails and changing her mind (a good thing for a person who has matured over decades). She has a responsibility to get her message out, not let adversaries set the terms. Yet another reason is that she doesn’t dare be as emotionally “honest” as Bernie is. Can’t you just here the hue and cry about how “shrill” she is? This is a lesson women in public life learn very early. Lucky Bernie. He yells and is applauded. Another reason is politics. Yes, she’s a politician. And they all have to learn that words are taken out of context all the time. Only politicians like Bernie and Trump, who are fortunate enough to have caught a wave, have the luxury of speaking off the top of their heads. Don’t get me wrong. Bernie has good stuff at the top of his head and I’m proud of the Democratic party that we’ve field two ‘good’ candidates. But I don’t fault Hillary for exercising discretion in what she says.
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Response to LAS14 (Original post)
