Hillary Clinton is smart, she is calculating, she is qualified, and she is unpopular even among her own party. As it becomes clearer that she will more than likely become the Democratic candidate in the 2016 presidential election, it has also become clearer that she is going to have trouble garnering support from her base.
Hillary Clinton has had trouble engaging young voters. Her rival in the democratic primary race, Bernie Sanders, has captured the imaginations of the Millennials in a way she does not seem capable of. His promise of a “political revolution” has made her rather mundane detailed oriented plans seem boring by comparison. She is viewed as just another establishment candidate by the voters who are sick of the establishment.
This lack of excitement within her own party is bad enough, but to make matters worse Clinton has been the target of constant attacks from Republicans for the past eight years. Their efforts to surround Clinton in controversy (whether it is Benghazi, her private email server, or Whitewater) have led to polls continually showing that Americans view her as untrustworthy. Hillary Clinton may be able to sway some moderates by moving towards the middle as she pivots towards the general election, but this will only isolate her further from the far left that Sanders has managed to galvanize.
This leaves Hillary Clinton in quite the predicament. There have been many Sanders supporters who have threatened to stay home from the polls in protest if he doesn’t win the nomination. Those liberals who have threatened to do so may reflect while under a Trump presidency and realize that Clinton, while differing slightly in policy from Sanders, was the better choice compared to Trump.
In fact her healthcare plan which calls for an expansion of Obamacare is probably more easily implemented than Sanders’ vision of moving to a single payer healthcare system. As the former Secretary of State she has more foreign policy experience than any other member in the race by leaps and bounds. Clinton not only has realistic goals for campaign finance reform, climate change, criminal justice reform, gender equality, and wall street but she also has the wherewithal and political savvy to accomplish them.
Hillary Clinton can be thought of as ‘medicine America needs.’ Sometimes medicine does not taste good going down, but ultimately it makes things better. Clinton’s policies don’t excite the base like Sanders’ and her rhetoric doesn’t ignite the angry white voter like Trump, but she does have realistic plans and the political grit to make changes that would benefit Americans. This is not an election that Democrats can afford to sit out. There is too much at stake and it’s time to realize compromising is better than forfeit. Liberals who “feel the Bern” have to learn that settling for Hillary is the best option. Electing Clinton may not ignite a political revolution, but it may just help America move forward regardless.