Something to consider....President Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Link: A. Hillary Clinton is running for President.
          B. Flaws of New Start Treaty

Hillary Clinton is running for the Democratic nomination to be President of the United States in 2016.  These things occur in steps: first the candidate must make a public announcement, usually accompanied by a Hollywood-produced video of babies, puppies and lots of Old Glory.  Then the candidate must run for their political party's nomination, in a series of primary elections that take place across the country.  Once the primaries are complete, the party meets in a pre-selected city for the nominating convention, where the votes are tallied (candidates earn delegates according to their percentage of the vote in each respective primary) and a nominee is announced.  The count takes place on the third night of the four-night spectacle, which allows the party to put together a fourth night, jump-start "pep rally" for all of the delegates and volunteers and party faithful.  Then the candidate runs for president against whoever was chosen by the opposing party.  Ideally, our system is designed to allow for multiple parties to participate, which could result in four or five candidates running in the general election.  But the system has allowed itself to be molded, shaped, prodded, and morphed in a manner that really only makes it reasonable for the participation of two political parties, and in the end, two presidential candidates.  In the United States, we have the Democratic and the Republican

Party.  We also have the never-say-die Libertarian Party, which can never get traction because of their lack of financial support for ad campaigns, and the wink-and-a-nod agreement between the GOP and the Democrats to keep the libertarians out of any debates.  This guarantees no press exposure, no major newspaper editorials, and no chance whatsoever of being competitive.

For everyone already familiar with our political system, I appreciate your patience slogging through the above paragraph on our electoral process.  The majority of my readers are not American, and I never assume that they understand the way we run our business.  As for the primary process, former First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is running for the Democratic nomination in 2016.  This is not Hillary's first attempt to win the nomination.  In 2008, she started the primary season as the candidate to beat, only to be upstaged by Barack Obama.  I can only imagine how frustrating this loss must have been, as Clinton really appreciates everything happening according to plan.  Clinton was supposed to be president in 2008, not 2016; but these are cards she must play.  What I found to be the most amusing was that some political analysts (and personal friends) actually considered the possibility that she wouldn't run.  Hillary Clinton has been running for president for a long, long time.  Anything short of her own Administration will be considered a lifetime disappointment, at least in her own eyes.  You see, Hillary comes from the generation of the late 1960's and early 1970's that was either fighting in Vietnam, or protesting the war while in college.  Actually, Hillary Rodham was such a bright student and potential future leader, that in 1974 she was a chosen as a member of the impeachment inquiry staff in Washington, D.C., advising the House Committee on the Judiciary during the Watergate scandal. Under the guidance of Chief Counsel John Doar and senior member Bernie Nussbaum, Rodham helped research procedures of impeachment and it's historical grounds and standards.  During that same time, Hillary was dating Bill Clinton.  Once they were married, though, it quickly became apparent that his political ambitions would come first.  But Hillary made it obvious as First Lady that she was interested in policy, not White House Tours.  Her run for the Senate surprised no one, although her choice of locations was up in the air for some time.  Then, after losing the Presidential nomination to Obama in 2008, Hillary made the strategic decision to accept the position of Secretary of State in the Obama Administration.  I think that this was a mistake, but how big a mistake is yet to be seen.

The GOP will go through a much more contested primary season, and at this point, its anyone's guess if the nominee will be Rand Paul, Scott Walker, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Mario Rubio, Dr. Ben Carson, Mike Huckabee, or someone else.  The Democratic nomination, though is Hillary's.  Forget the "draft Elizabeth Warren" campaign, or the conversation about Martin O'Malley; it's just a bit of distraction to make the Democrats appear as if they really are holding a competitive primary.  What is the first thing any sincere voter should do when considering a candidate?  Why, look at their experience.  Hillary served almost nine years as a Senator, representing New York State, and then accepted the position of Secretary of State in Barack Obama's first term.  She chose not to continue as Secretary of State during Obama's second term.  Evaluating Hillary's performance as a Senator is not difficult.  She voted as any liberal Democrat would, which is what was expected by her New York constituents.  She voted in favor of the Iraq War, and then explained that she, like so many of her fellow Democratic Senators, had been lied to and tricked into believing that Iraq posed a threat, when it didn't.  If you really want a look at Hillary's record, her time as Secretary of State is a treasure trove of information.  First and foremost, Hillary stayed behind the scenes during the Obama apology tours, that were such a highlight of his first term, which is a bit odd, considering that she was Secretary of State.  When it came to the

Secretary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov 

sign documents for Entry into Force of the New START Treaty.

New Start Treaty with Vladimir Putin and Russia, though, she was highly visible. Clinton was highly supportive of this treaty, which was intended to get the United States and Russia back on track to diminishing the nuclear stockpiles that had been accumulated during the Cold War.  Unfortunately, this treaty, like any treaty that would be approved by Putin, required almost all of the sacrifice to be on the part of the United States.  Plainly said, the New Start Treaty virtually eliminated any remaining advantage we had over the Russians, and severely limited our ability to protect our allies in Europe (especially eastern Europe).  No matter how you look at this treaty, it is a victory for Russia.  The treaty is a loser for the United States, and I have yet to hear anyone bring this fact to the attention of its number one supporter, Secretary Hillary Clinton.  Also during Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State, the Arab Spring bloomed right under the noses of our State Department, without so much as a fart coming out of Foggy Bottom.  We were unprepared in Tunisia, unprepared in Egypt, and boy, were we out of our league in Libya.  The events of the Arab Spring are an indication of a State Department that had become solely reactive in its actions.  Why? Because its focus was elsewhere. 

Another very sensitive issue deals with Secretary Clinton's creation of a private server, from her home, not just for her use, but for the use of certain members of her staff.  Law requires that all of those emails must be saved, but many weren't.  In fact, it appears as if two members of Secretary Clinton's staff reviewed the emails from the personal server to separate the ones that were personal and not related to government business, and to destroy them.  Wow.  Actually, no emails should have been destroyed, period.  Anyone want to bet that at least a few of those emails had "Benghazi" written in them somewhere?  It shows terrible judgment for someone who, at the beginning of her career in politics, was involved in the Watergate Investigation, during which a president destroyed tapes so they wouldn't be politically or criminally incriminating.  And now she orders two of her staff to destroy emails?  I don't think we've seen the last of this scandal.

In general, I don't think that Hillary Clinton would be a disaster as a president.  I believe she is an egomaniac, but what politician isn't?  It might actually be a useful trait for the job.  She is very intelligent, and appears to have boundless energy.  In no way have I seen any justification for questioning her patriotism.  Economically, I believe her policies would be much more to the center than the Obama Administration.  I'm convinced that one of the first things she would do would be to put together a panel to fix whatever is broken about Obamacare (or dump it altogether).  I don't see her being taken to the cleaners again by Putin, and she has gained substantial experience on the international stage.  My strongest disagreements with Hillary Clinton would be in the realm of foreign policy.  I believe that her international perspective is very left-of-center, and the world has become too dangerous for anything less than a strong, pro-military, "America-first" policy.  We are no longer in a position to trust first and verify later, and we must never waiver in our commitment to Israel.  For these reasons, and to a lesser extent, some of the issues mentioned earlier in this post, I will not be voting for Hillary Clinton.