By Jose Linero
Dear Hillary,
I saw (because how can anyone miss it?) that you started a “listening tour” throughout the United States, which is a bit troubling because one would think that somebody that is running for president should already be well versed on what the American people want and need and on what are our country’s challenges. One would imagine that such a candidate would tour the nation to tell us what her plans and platforms are rather than just go around trying to find out the obvious.
But in any case, since you are listening, allow me to humor you please and tell you what us, "everyday Americans”, like your campaign wants to call us, are looking for in a candidate.
First of all, let me tell you: when somebody tries as hard as you are trying to be “one of us” what she shows is that she isn’t. We everyday Americans are just that; we don’t need to try to be anything, we are who we are naturally and we don’t need to pose for the cameras as something we will never be.
Allow me also to tell you what we want and what we don’t want from “one of us”:
We don’t want a candidate that believes she is above the law, bends the rules of her own workplace, and hires a power attorney to tell Congress that she will not comply with their requirements.
We don’t want a candidate that has her own e-mail server; that wipes it clean after it has been subpoenaed; and that cannot come up with a better excuse than having done that because of “convenience”.
What we do want, is a person like us, that follows the rules, abides by the laws, is respectful of the authorities and show that by responding to requests from Congress in general and committees in particular. That is what any everyday, honest American would do.
We do not need to know where your next stop will be, what your burrito preference is or how you like your Starbucks. None of those things make our country better or safer and just distract everyday Americans from the issues.
What we do need to know are things like: what changed between what you said in 2011 that Assad “had to go” and now that you seem to support the president’s disengagement?
We need you to explain to us why is the world so much a more dangerous place today than before you became Secretary of State. What did you do to avoid the mess that we see in Ukraine, North Korea, Libya (you must love that topic, I am sure!), Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, and even Cuba and Venezuela?
We also don’t want you to lecture us on pay gaps between corporate CEOs and the “average employers”. Not when you charged hundreds of thousands of dollars per speech, that when compared to what the people in charge of making the speech happen made, is equivalent to about 10 times the pay gap that you seem so shocked by.
What we want is for a candidate to let us make our own minds and if merited, be scandalized by the CEO pay gap, although for consistency, that will mean that we will be 10 times more scandalized by yours.
We don’t need to see you traveling around in your “Scooby” van when everyday New Yorkers saw your armored motorcades stopping traffic year in and year out, every time you drove around your tony Chappaqua neighborhood, hit the City, or went to your husband’s Foundation events.
What we need is to see you drop the pose, stop trying so hard to be seen as one of us, and give us everyday Americans an honest glance of who you really are, what you really stand for, what you really have to offer.
Because unless you do that, we have to assume that you are just pretending, that you stand for nothing other than power for the sake of power itself, and that you have nothing to offer except for a feeling of entitlement.
I hope these points help you in your quest, and since we are at it, allow me to recommend that when in Iowa, you try the pork tenderloin sandwich. Doing it won’t make you “one of us” of course, but you will still enjoy the meal.
With best wishes,
An Everyday American