One week and another national political convention later and the options for whom to choose as our nation’s leader still look bleak.

Last week, the nation’s Democrats — along with a few people who may not be card-holding Democrats, but who just don’t like the GOP nominee — came together to tout Hillary Clinton’s accomplishments.

Much talk focused on her ability to break the proverbial glass ceiling by being the first woman to be a national presidential nominee. The logic that followed suggested how amazing it would be to have a female president.

The idea of having a female president doesn’t bother me, but it’s not a reason to simply ignore the person’s qualifications.

Not unlike the problems the City of Natchez is facing over selecting a city attorney — which have been made far more difficult than logic would seem reasonable — the nation must pick the best person for the job, not merely one that achieves a first.

When I look at Hillary, I don’t necessarily see her as first and foremost a female candidate.

I see her as a candidate with big problems. First, politics is about likeability.

The polls show she’s not well liked. More than 50 percent of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of her.

Interestingly her chief opponent, Republican nominee Donald Trump has almost exactly the same unfavorable ratings.

How on earth did we get here?

Our nation’s two primary options for a leader are grossly unfavorable in our eyes, and yet we must choose between the two.

Clinton took jabs at Trump’s character during her acceptance speech, which while largely more positive than Trump’s own a week prior, still made me laugh a little.

She still contends that the nation’s healthcare system is far better now than it was prior to the passage of Obamacare.

That’s a joke.

While more people may be on the rolls as being covered, the healthcare system seems more costly, more disorganized and frankly just more of a mess, than it did in the past.

Personally, my wife Julie and I have chuckled at just how crazy the medical health insurance reimbursement system is.

In the last few months our own health insurance statements show that Julie had heart surgery — a bogus claim that somehow got billed to our insurance provider. We’ve reported it and are awaiting an answer.

A blood test her doctor recommended as part of her pregnancy was billed at $3,500. The insurance hasn’t, as of yet, paid any of this, but we’re assured that, “The company won’t bill you for the rest of it. They’ll just write it off.”

But it’s not just us. A work friend’s wife was billed for having a C-section years ago, when in fact she had no such procedure in the birth of their child.

The “it takes a village” approach to health care that our nation has adopted certainly seems to be rife with errors and for many of us, riddled with rising costs as well.

Clinton also took a jab at Trump’s clothing line suggesting that if he wants to make America great again, he should make his clothes in the U.S. rather than in foreign countries.

The problem, however, is that cheap labor — including her husband’s North America Free Trade Act from the 1990s — has pushed manufacturing jobs overseas. A look at my own clothes reveals I wear foreign-made clothes mostly too. I bet most of us do.

I’ve never liked the Clintons.

Both are polished, professional politicians. Her husband’s womanizing ways, among other shady dealings, helped him earn the notorious nickname of “Slick Willy.”

They’ve simply always had the smoke of controversy — often ethical or moral in nature — swirling around them.

The old saying, “Where there’s smoke, there is fire,” seems fitting.

Giving a Clinton the keys to government again doesn’t seem wise, or the smoke may choke our country and make us stumble again.

At this point, only Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson seems adult enough and trustworthy enough to consider for the presidency. Talk about a strange election year.

 

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.