http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article108145747.htmlLet’s make clear what the 2016 presidential election isn’t about:
It is not about choosing between a bad candidate and a worse one. The narrative that Hillary Clinton is the lesser of two evils is patently wrong. Ms. Clinton is a pragmatic, tough-minded woman of accomplishment and political conviction with a demonstrated mastery of policy. She is politically flawed. However, Donald Trump is a damaged human being.
It’s not about an entertaining, shoot-from-the-hip renegade outsider taking on a mainstay of the entrenched political elite. That was Sarah Palin vs. Joe Biden back in 2008. No, Mr. Trump is the elite, one who has managed to talk a good game to fire up frustrated and frightened mostly white Americans with a campaign of hate and xenophobia.
For her part, Ms. Clinton has used her insider status to work aggressively on behalf of the disenfranchised, here and around the world. She has not won every battle, but she fights the good fight, and she fights the right ones in the name of equality and democracy.
It is not about Bill Clinton. He’s not running for president. Been there, done that.
It’s far more important for Americans to understand what election 2016 is about: Most starkly, our values, our national identity and even the enduring power of the Constitution are in question — and at stake. Most simply, Americans will define just who we are.
And Hillary Clinton is by far the best person in this race to lead us to a definition of which we can be proud. She will protect the best interests of this nation, its standing on the world stage and even democracy itself.
THE CASE FOR HER
Ms. Clinton, as we have said throughout the campaign, is not spotless. She has been slow to admit error, as in the email controversy. In that case and others, she has shown a penchant for secrecy and an unfortunate tendency to dismiss legitimate criticism as uninformed or ill-intentioned.
But what she offers is an actual record of accomplishment and a willingness to take on hard challenges. Throughout her career, Ms. Clinton has been a leader, not a follower.
She has not won all of her policy battles, most notably failing early in her husband’s administration to reform the healthcare industry. But in that instance and so many others she had the courage to speak up, as when she declared in Beijing in 1995 that women’s rights are human rights.
She has fought for the right causes. She was one of the first on the national level to press for ways to stop gun violence and to protect the planet from climate change. She has been a lifelong advocate of children and families, championing the Children’s Health Insurance Program that now covers millions of lower-income kids.
IN THE SENATE
As a U.S. senator from New York, Ms. Clinton joined the Armed Services Committee and did her homework well enough to earn the respect of legislative experts on the military and national security like Sen. John McCain, the Vietnam hero whom Mr. Trump disparaged early in his campaign. She was a serious, engaged, productive legislator and showed a surprising ability for bipartisan collaboration, which will stand her in good stead in the White House when she must work with Congress to overcome paralyzing gridlock. She successfully fought for giving full benefits to 9/11 rescue workers and the families of survivors, building the kind of legislative record that won over the skeptics in New York who had once labeled her a carpetbagger.
SECRETARY OF STATE
Her dogged determination and inexhaustible energy — it’s called stamina, Mr. Trump — were on display when as secretary of State she circled the globe to repair America’s image and reputation with friend and foe alike after a trying period during the preceding administration. Her efforts to impose sanctions on Iran and force that country to the negotiating table over its nuclear program have made the world safer.
Though she failed to “reset” relations with Russia, she never indulged in any false illusions about Russian intentions or flirted with Vladimir Putin in the shameless way that Mr. Trump has. She knows who America’s allies and enemies are. Mr. Trump, to judge from his statements, doesn’t have a clue.
SOUTH FLORIDA
Ms. Clinton understands the urgency of climate change, and as her recent local appearance with former Vice President Al Gore highlights, she gets that South Florida is Ground Zero for the ravages of sea-level rise. More important, Ms. Clinton has laid out a multi-pronged achievable plan to tackle it. Mr. Trump, by the way, has said climate change is a hoax perpetrated by China.
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