Back in June, I pretty much already did an endorsement post, which I’ve just re-read, and it is pretty much still on point, though as this is my space, I reserve the right to revise and extend remarks, so that’s what I’m going to do.

I’m still very much of the opinion that Hillary Clinton will make a perfectly effective Chief Executive. As I’ve said previously, she is, by virtue of being an active and engaged First Lady for most of the 1990s, an objectively effective Senator from New York, and a competent Secretary of State in the first Obama administration, probably the most uniquely qualified person to ever compete for the office, in the sense that she, more than anyone else pretty much ever, knows exactly what she’s getting into. Her break-in period is going to be shorter than most.

In terms of policy, I expect that an H. Clinton presidency isn’t going to look all that different from an Obama presidency (though I expect it’ll probably be a little less affectionately dorky); in a lot of ways (barring Clinton’s somewhat more hawkish tendencies in foreign policy), there are opportunities for much more interesting socially liberal initiatives; one needs to only consider her key initiative as First Lady during her husband’s first term, The Health Security Act, which, while not perfect and ultimately a failure at the time, was slightly more progressive than the current Affordable Care Act, and given the current issues with that system (largely due to prevention of the expansion of Medicaid in certain states like mine, and tepid cooperation from the commercial health care industry), something like real universal single-payer healthcare like the rest of the civilized world might be in the cards in the next decade, assuming a somewhat cooperative legislative branch.

Also, I’ve been pretty thrilled with Clinton’s enthusiastic adoption of a lot of Bernie Sanders’ (who I voted for in the primaries) signature issues into her platform, particularly affordable higher education (which may be personal for me, as I’m staring down the barrel of a kid starting college next year). She’s not as enthusiastic in terms of banking reform, though I expect Senator Elizabeth Warren <swoon> will hold a President Clinton’s feet to the fire on that one, given her dedicated support during the general election.

In the past, I also expressed some personal discomfort with the dynastic appearance of another Clinton presidency (after two Bushes and another Bush half-heartedly running this time), and toward Clinton’s Boomer “power grandma” stance that must work for somebody, but not necessarily for me. I said then that it was probably a personal issue, and I’m now sure it is, one that I’ve worked through, though it was never anything that would ever scuttle my vote in a general election – Mrs. Clinton is smart, saavy, well-prepared, and well-practiced at taking the slings and arrows of inevitable critics, and if she’s a little wooden and robotic in public (though reportedly warm and witty in private), I can understand that; I’m apparently scary and intimidating to those who don’t know me – our public face, which is not entirely ours to craft, isn’t us, especially for us who trend toward introversion. I’ve come around to sypathy and identification with her public/private dichotomy – I think we’d both rather get down to digging through the data than gladhandling everyone; I can respect that.

In the last few paragraphs, I’ve made mention of a theoretical “cooperative legislative branch” and “inevitable critics.” Depending on how the down-ticket races go, we might get the former this time, and we’ll definitely get the latter – few public figures have been the subject of more scandalous accusations and “-gates” and “-ghazis” than Secretary Clinton, and none of them have stuck or had much basis in actionable reality. If she was half as evil and corrupt as her critics say she is, something would have caught over the last quarter century. Much has been made of the email business, with few people actually understanding it. Her use of a “private email server” was probably not the best solution to the problem, but neither was her predecessor, Secretary Colin Powell, using an AOL account for the the same sort of thing. I’m also not vastly concerned about the “classified info” bit. As someone who’s held a government clearance, I know that “classified” is a weird and varied landscape, and the vast majority of the information people are harping about wasn’t actually classified at the time, and the rest was likely improperly marked and, well, “classified”, before it passed through the Secretary’s inbox. I’ve also worked for many years in public sector information technology, and can confidently say that federal technological infrastructure isn’t typically state of the art; it’s likely that even during her relatively recent time in the State department, there weren’t any better, more secure options.

In any case, that paragraph was a bit of tldr; take it as “If she was actually evil, she would have been caught doing something bad by now; also the email thing doesn’t matter”. She’s as clean as anybody else at her level. That said, she’s probably going to take a bigger hit from critics on the right than either her husband or her predecessor in the office have. Bill Clinton got impeached (but not removed) for some pretty weak legal (but still kind of icky) actions; it’s not out of the question that her opposition won’t try something similar.

And, in the unlikely event such a thing happens and goes farther than the last Clinton impeachment, we get Tim Kaine, and I’m very cool with that.

While I have occasionally struggled in mustering emotional enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton in the past, I’ve never had that problem with Tim Kaine. I’ve been in his geographic and political orbit since his days as in Richmond on the city council and as mayor, where he, by all rights, did a good job making the city and its environs a pleasant place in which to live, work, and visit (He also used to call into local radio morning shows and goof off with the hosts, where he always came across as personable and funny). He’s also served admirably as Virgina Lt. Governor and Governor, doing much to advance a progressive agenda (in terms of climate and the environment, education, and public health) in the face of a strong opposition legislature, with whom he maintained friendly, cordial relations despite their political differences, which is a tremendous skill to have as an executive if you’re to get anything done. He’s been a pretty solid Senator for the state as well, continuing to advance a progressive agenda, and maintain pleasant relations with both sides of the aisle, a rare feat indeed in these terribly divided times.

It sounds like I’m writing my 2020 endorsement here, because in a way I am; quite simply, Tim’s ready to step up immediately if unfortunate circumstances require it of him.

Also, he’s good people, and, as I see it, kind of a kindred spirit; we’re a bit a like, Mr. Kaine and I. We’re not that dissimilar in age or temperment, are both amateur musicians (“four harmonicas”), have a traditional background in Catholicism and the Jesuit tradition of social justice (insert reference to his Honduran misson trip here, everybody’s already made one) and fighting poverty that carries through to the way we see the world and how to go about making it better, and our dad-joke fu is strong. He’s always been careful to avoid scandal and perceived conflict of interest (after his term as Governor, he taught a class or two at the University of Richmond law school; he specifically signed on to a private university to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest of teaching at a public university he had, in the past, been involved in budget discussions for). He’s clean, respectable, and gets along with everybody. Tim Kaine feels like a more optimistic, aspirational version of me, if only I could let go of this cynical streak I’ve got going.

I honestly really admire the guy, and he’s a person I’d trust to use the power of the (Vice) Presidency fairly, responsibly, and for the forces of good.

Also, his Spotify playlist recently published by the campaign feels real, and not completely focus-grouped. It’s got two really good Replacements tunes on it (we’re both fans), and the Springsteen song is a deep cut, non-single from Lucky Town for $diety’s sake; if that’s not a true fan’s list, I don’t know what is. I’ll spot him the DMB tune; being a Virginia politician and all; for a devoted music fan such as myself, this says a lot toward Tim’s authenticity as a person.

So anyway; that’s my endorsement. I even did it without mentioning the other guys once! If you respect my opinion, I hope you’ll take it into account when you vote on or before this coming Tuesday. Heck, even if you don’t take my recommendation above into account, make sure you vote anyway; it is, as I’m fond of saying, the absolutely least you can do to participate in this little experiment we call American Democracy (or “Constitutional Republic-cy” if you wanna get technical). It’s your civic duty. I can’t stress that enough.