Hard Pillows

Remember that pillow fight I told you the Democratic Presidential candidates were having? Well, it seems they're loading up thoses cases with rolls of quarters.

Last night Bernie Sanders launched an attack on Hillary Clinton questioning whether she is qualified to be President. This was in response to what he alleged was her questioning of his qualifications.

We've been down this road before, basically every election among every candidate in every party. The Constitution informs us with no ambiguity who is qualified and both Sanders and Clinton meet those guidelines.

You can question whether someone is tempermentally suited to the office or intelligent enough to deal with all the nuances but it's up to the voters to make the judgement.

Facts matter, for some of us. Hillary Clinton never said Bernie Sanders was not qualified to be President. Joe Scarborough asked her that question yesterday morning. Being a gifted politician, Clinton used Sanders own words against him. It was Sanders who gave an interview to The New York Daily News in which he could not adequately answer the questions about how he would break up the big banks and the laws governing this. It is not the first time he has stumbled on this subject and since it is a central theme of his campaign he should be better prepared.

Hillary Clinton is not disqualified because there are Super Pacs supporting her campaign or because she fundraises from a variety of sources. It's great that Sanders has built a large fundraising arm fueled by small donors and has no Super Pacs but get real, without money a politician cannot run and get out their message. It is not Clinton's job to make Sanders' case and say he would be better for the job than her. Sanders has built an excellent communications network, I know because my email gets daily updates from him including a constant request for a donation, which I have not given. That fact does not dissuade his campaign from bombarding me, it doesn't bother me because I'm a political junkie.

Bernie Sanders has accomplished an incredible feat with his campaign and it is a mistake for him to execute a tactic that portrays Clinton as unqualified including his attack about her vote on the Iraq War. Sanders voted no and so would I had I been in Congress at the time. She explained her vote in the 2008 campaign against Barack Obama whose campaign constantly touted his opposition to the war. Of course he wasn't in Congress at the time and his position carried the same weight as my own.

Clinton fought hard in 2008 but ultimately lost to Obama and she then took the high road and came out full throated in her support of Obama. Sanders may ultimately lose his bid and must decide what road he will take. Will he stand up for Hillary Clinton and encourage his supporters to work on her behalf to help deliver her a victory in the general election or will he simply pick up his chips and go back to the Senate.

Clinton has said without reservation that she would take Sanders over Trump or Cruz any day. Politics is hardball but Bernie Sanders is wrong and making a mistake. He should stick to his domestic economic message but he has also erred by leaving an impression that he lacks an understanding of broader issues such as foreign policy and national security issues.

Sanders has hurt himself with Democratic voters by doing this. No one is better prepared to be President than Hillary Clinton. She has over forty years of experience working for the betterment of the voiceless. She was First Lady for eight years with a front row seat to what it means to be President, not in theory but in reality. Elected twice to the U.S. Senate where she earned a reputation as a work horse and serious legislator. A Presidential candidate who came within a hair of making history, remember the eighteen million cracks in the ceiling. A uniter that joined forces with a true rival in Barack Obama who served four years as his Secretary of State where she ran an effective and proactive department executing that rivals agenda. She exhaustively traveled the globe mending frayed relationships and earning goodwill.

You can say many things about Hillary Clinton but to state she is not qualified to be President is nonsense and factually without merit.