Endorsements, Opinion

EDITORIAL: Hillary Clinton best suited to be president

From the Times  West Virginian of Fairmont:

The choice West Virginians face in next month’s presidential election should not be based on problematic promises, including Donald Trump’s populist vow to return to the boom days of coal mining.

Serious examination is required into the experience, knowledge and pragmatic record of the candidates, and the level of respect and cooperation they can expect from political leaders at home and abroad.

With that in mind, the Times West Virginian editorial board believes Democrat Hillary Clinton, while not a perfect choice, is the most qualified candidate to become our next president. Republican Trump, as a novice politician, has proven he does not have the temperament or the awareness needed to lead the free world.

That reality was made clear with the release Friday of Trump’s 2005 recorded conversation in which he talks about pushing himself on women, kissing and groping them and they don’t mind because “you can do anything” when you have special status as a billionaire businessman and reality TV personality.

The revelation of Trump’s lewd attitude toward women and his conceited sense of his stature rightly drew swift and wide condemnation, including from Republican officials and candidates for Congress. Respect for Trump has been irretrievably damaged despite his apology and insistence that his words do not “reflect who I am.” We believe they do.

It is unfortunate that in West Virginia, polls indicate strong support for Trump because of a statement by Hillary Clinton on March 13 at a CNN Town Hall – a statement that is often taken out of context.

During the discussion, the moderator asked Clinton why poor white voters should choose her over other candidates. Part of what she said could probably be repeated verbatim by those who have heard the soundbite over and over on television ads and on social media — “I’m the only candidate which has a policy about how to bring economic opportunity using clean renewable energy as the key into coal country. Because we’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business, right?”

That’s one piece of a long and detailed answer Clinton gave that evening, and we understand just how jarring it sounded echoing off the hills in coal country. But, again, the full context of the statement included understanding that with the decline of coal comes people and communities hurting and her desire to bring aid and work programs to those areas hardest hit. Follow-up comments made by Clinton in the days and weeks after the town hall event included apologies for the statement, details for moving Appalachia forward within the clean-coal technology industry as well as clarification that her administration would not be the one turning the lights out on coal.

It’s unfortunate because too many people have come to the conclusion that a vote for Clinton is a vote against coal or that support should be wholeheartedly given to Trump because he says that he will make the coal industry great again. We don’t think Trump is capable of doing that. There are many issues that contribute to the decline of coal and the Obama administration’s energy policy is just a small part of that.

It’s hard to move past that one issue, but we have to because so much is at stake in this presidential election. The next president will have to have the skills to work with Congress and foreign leaders on major foreign and domestic policy issues that will impact our lives on a daily basis. The president also needs credibility as the commander in chief and head of the free world, and the competency to handle complex issues in ever-dangerous times.

Clinton has served in those capacities as the first lady followed by eight years in the Senate and four years as secretary of state. She has valuable experience, which is key, and has demonstrated presidential qualities of diplomacy, a cool head, patience, mental acuity and bipartisanship. Importantly, she has also demonstrated presidential temperament.

You don’t want a president to have control over nuclear codes who can be pulled into a public argument over a Tweet. And while that sounded ludicrous even as of last week, Trump took to Twitter at 3 a.m. to attempt to destroy the credibility of a woman who accuses him of mistreating her through the Miss Universe pageant. That lack of control should be a giant red flag for how he would handle sleepless nights in the West Wing. That kind of behavior shouldn’t even be tolerated by a politician on a local level, much less someone very capable of causing an international incident through careless use of social media.

Clinton is not without faults. We are aware and share concerns about her use of a private email server, her careless comments about the coal industry and not being proactive enough in efforts to prove that the Clinton Foundation was not a pay-to-play endeavor for foreign officials. We hope and trust she has learned from her missteps.

We do not have confidence Trump has the capacity to remake himself. He has shown many unacceptable attitudes during his initial run for political office, including blatant bigotry, racism, discrimination, disregard for the U.S. Constitution and contempt for anyone who has a different point of view than his. He has made threats against his opponents, incited crowds to attack those who dare to question his platform and has repeatedly sued news organizations for fact-based reporting.

He has mocked people with disabilities, disrespected veterans and members of the active-duty military and reverts to name calling when he can’t answer a challenge to the truthfulness of a statement. He’s made a career on the back of the nation’s working class and brags that he’s “smart” if he could use a complex tax code to avoid paying taxes to support the government he wants to lead.

And, as underscored earlier in this editorial, he has no shame and cannot excuse his disrespect for women.

These are not the kind of character and mind-set flaws that can be overlooked in an election of this magnitude.

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