My Less Than Humble Opinion

I believe (and hope) that Hillary Clinton will be the 45th President of the United States of America. I decided to send her a letter. Unfortunately, her campaign web site allows only 1000 characters per message. (I guess she’s being extra careful with her e-mail address these days. It’s not posted on the site.) I sent Hillary this abbreviated version of my letter.

 Hillary,

When you’re President, I suggest you do some things differently from President Obama:

• Be open about what you’re doing.
  .
• Give inspiring talks. Passion is as important as substance.
  .
• Don’t make promises you can’t keep nor threats you won’t keep.
  .
• If you make a mistake, admit it, then correct it.

There are some things I think you need to do early:

• Push plans that will help those in slowing parts of the economy move into expanding parts. Both workers and businesses need to adapt. There’s no such thing as unskilled labor.
  .
• Fix and enhance “Obamacare“.
  .
• Focus the gun debate on magazine capacity rather than weapons.
  .
• Push creative education plans. Education is more than Training. It not only develops skills; it creates thinking citizens.

A President must lead. Leading requires direction, communication, and passion.

Terry

For the benefit of my readers, here’s the full text of my original letter to Hillary. I composed it before going to her web site … planning to cut-and-paste it into the site’s communications section. Maybe I’ll print the original and send it by “snail mail“. That address is listed on her web site.

Hillary,

In March, when it became apparent that you’d be the Democratic nominee for President, I wrote to you about the campaign in which you’re now engaged. So far, I’m impressed. You’re showing “The Donald” how a grown-up campaigns. Without bluster, shouting, name-calling, or innuendo, you’re hitting Mr. Trump where it hurts the most … right in the center of his astronomical ego.

When you are President of the United States, I suggest you do some things differently from President Obama:

• Don’t let your Administration be President Obama’s third and fourth terms. Follow the agenda that you believe is best for our country.
  .
• Whenever possible, let people know what you’re doing. President Obama tends to “play his cards too close to the chest”. As President, you can’t talk about things that really relate to the security of our people and nation, but … you can talk about what you’re doing to improve the economy, education, healthcare, etc. President Obama missed many opportunities.
  .
• Give inspiring national pep talks. Passion is often as important as form and nearly as important as substance. Let people know the depth of your feelings about the proposals and projects that are most important to you. I know those feelings are there. I’ve seen them. Regular, inspiring and impassioned talks with their fellow citizens worked fairly well for Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan.
  .
• Don’t lie … before or after the fact. Don’t make promises you can’t keep. (“Read my lips: no new taxes“) Don’t make threats you won’t keep. (“Red lines” should not be drawn, then erased.)
  .
• If you make a mistake, admit it and tell the country how you intend to correct the error. (I’m still waiting for our 43^rd President to admit that “weapons of mass destruction” was a convenient and unsubstantiated excuse for invading Iraq.)
  .
• Don’t be afraid of being stereotyped. Except for this last year of his administration, President Obama seemed to forget his racial heritage. Don’t try to pretend you’re not a woman. Your opponents won’t. You have an obligation to support gender equality. It’s way past time for the United States of America to join other major democratic nations in proving that a woman can lead as well as … if not better than … a man.

When you are President, there are some things that I think you should consider doing early in your first term:

• Push initiatives that will help those in declining portions of the economy to move quickly into the growing portions. Help miners to move into good jobs in renewable and clean energy. Help those losing jobs in manufacturing to move into information technologies. Focus as much on the industries adapting to the workers as on training the workers. There’s no such thing as unskilled labor.
  .
• Fix and enhance the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. It’s a good start, but still has a lot of problems. When you and I were children, Social Security was noticeably different. Medicare didn’t even exist. Now, most people consider both programs to be essential … and both could still be improved.
  .
• Focus the gun debate on magazine capacities rather than weapon descriptions. Relatively minor modifications in weapon design can push them outside of a legal description without changing their lethality. A description like “no more than 10 bullets per magazine” is hard to dispute, but slows a mass killer’s rampage.
  .
• Push education initiatives. Kindergarten through Grade 12 are subsidized at the local level with Federal help. Maybe that should be K-14. The G.I. Bill after World War II helped many ex-soldiers get good educations. Even more of this sort of help should be available to our current ex-soldiers. Many 21^st Century businesses are screaming for workers. Those industries and the government need to work together even more than they do already. Education not only develops skills. It produces thoughtful citizens.

The most important thing a President can do is lead. Leading requires communication, passion, direction, and ideas. If you lack any of those skills (which I doubt), surround yourself with those who have them.

Terry

[ Main Menu ]